Nothing Else Matters

Chapter 9

Lars sighed once again, getting ready to explain what exactly happened that time. Me and Kirk leaned forward on the bed, looking at Lars, who had went out on the floor, and was currently walking around, thinking about how to start. After a while, he stopped, and sighed for what seemed like the fiftieth time that night. "OK", he said, "Here goes..." I looked at Kirk, who had his eyes glued to his boyfriend. "So the year was 1981", Lars started, "And James and I had just met, since he answered my ad in the paper, which said that I was looking for someone to jam with. Some days went, and we had gotten Ron on the bass, and Dave Mustaine on the guitar". He stopped talking for a while, as if he thought about what came next. "Me and James... well, you could say that we were... uh, close. Or, uh, kinda fooling around, if you will", Lars mumbled, "But I didn't think of it as serious, and besides, I already had my eyes on Ron. When I broke up with James, he became so different, as if it was the end of the world, which it wasn't, I mean, we were basically kids, and I didn't even know what love was". His voice had become all shaky, and I could see that it was hard for him to talk about it, but he went on: "Anyway", he continued, "I started dating Ron, and James became so jealous, and once, I guess he had a bad day or something, I don't know... He just went straight over to Ron and punched him in the nose". Lars sighed, and looked at the floor as he was telling the story. "After that, it just got worse and worse until Ron finally quit the band", he explained, "Then we got Cliff Burton in, replaced Dave with Kirk, and well, I guess you know the rest". Kirk was speechless, and I was still trying to figure out just how the fuck this in any way made sense. James just walked up to Ron and punched him? I wasn't there, so I don't know, but if you ask me, I'd say that it was highly unlikely. James just didn't seem like that kind of person, but we were just about to find out.

"What are you guys talking about?" The three of us turned around to see James standing in the doorway. "Nothing", Lars said quickly, his voice cracking a little. Kirk looked at me with the most frightened expression I had ever seen, as James was walking into the room, looking first at Lars, then at Kirk, then at me. "Don't even try lying, Lars", James barked, and repeated his question: "What were you talking about?" Kirk swallowed, and looked as if he was about to cry. I looked at Lars, who was trying to control himself, not to run over to Kirk and comfort him, at the same time as trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for James, who by the way was getting more and more impatient. "Uuhm...", Lars stuttered, and squeezed his eyes shut, opening them just a second later, probably hoping that James would buy his next excuse. "Fine", he said. I was starting to sweat as I realized that Lars was going to tell James the truth. James was basically staring Lars down at the moment, and Kirk was already crying. Giving it a second thought, I don't really think he had a choice but to tell the truth. Lars sighed. "We – uh, we were talking... about... uh, you...", he stuttered, begging that James wouldn't get mad. "Why were you talking about me?", James simply asked, "What, are you bitching about me behind my back now too?" Kirk shook his head, just in pure fear that James would do any harm to him or his boyfriend. "No, we're not", Lars said, suddenly feeling a lot braver, "We were only saying true words as we spoke of you". He was starting to sound rather poetic, but it didn't matter if James bought it. "Yeah right", James spat, "What did you say then? Tell me". Lars was sinking back down again. "Just tell him, Lars", Kirk said, "It's all true after all, right?" I was really starting to doubt this whole story, but I was soon going to find out what was the real truth. "Yeah! Sure it is!", Lars said, pulling on the neck of his shirt, "Uh, I – I just told them about that one time that... you, uhm... hit Ron McGovney that time...", he mumbled. "That one time!?", Kirk exclaimed, "You told me that he beat him up every day, and that you found him in a puddle of puke!" James quickly turned to Kirk, then back to Lars again. "You fucking liar!", James yelled, "I never hit Ron, not even once!" I sighed. Oh, great, what did happen then? It seemed like I couldn't believe anyone at this point.