FicWad

"Olivia?" a voice called me from what seemed like a very long distance away. I tried ignoring the voice and pulled the sheet up over my head. I was still pretty tired from the night before and didn't feel like getting up anytime soon. It was nice and warm inside the bed and I felt like I could stay there and sleep the rest of the day away. Unfortunately, that was not James' plan.

The sheet was removed from my head and the voice called me again, "Olive? We need to get up. I have that meeting this morning. We have to leave in like," James paused to glance at the clock, "twenty minutes." That got me up and out of bed. I rolled over sleepily and padded across the floor, yawning as I did so.

"Actually, maybe you should just stay here," James added as I reached the bathroom. Not understanding why he thought I should just stay at the apartment, I paused and turned to look at him through my bleary eyes. Still only half-awake, I asked, "Wait, what? Why would I want to stay here? I'm going wherever you go. Besides, I need to find a job after this, remember?"

James shrugged, still looking uncomfortable. Figuring our conversation was over, I slipped into the bathroom and shut the door firmly behind me. I wished I had had time to take a shower, but there was no way I had time for it at this point. I was just going to have to make the best of everything at this point. Looking down at myself, I realized I had slept in my clothes from yesterday. After stripping them off quickly, I replaced them with a black skirt and black tank top. I wasn't really going for the "goth look", but black did seem to be the best color on me. I left my hair down and applied some makeup since I was trying to get a job today.

Just as I was stepping out of the bathroom, James called, "We really should get going now." I shoved my feet into a pair of black boots and nodded. James' eyes scanned over my body. I could see him taking in my short skirt and tight tank top. His mouth turned down in a concerned frown as we traveled in the elevator to James' truck. Wondering why he was looking at me with disapproval, I stuck out my lower lip and asked, "What's wrong? You're looking at me weird."

The elevator landed on the main floor and James and I stepped out. James was pursing his lips in irritation, but he didn't answer my question. As we strode across the lobby to the entrance of the apartments, I saw the red-headed receptionist look over at James in interest. To my relief and delight, James didn't even bother to acknowledge her gaze. He just continued to stare ahead of him in silence until we stepped outside into the warm, sunny morning.

As he unlocked the car door to the truck, James finally answered my question, "You're going to look for a job, right? You know you look like you're trying to get a job as a hooker instead." My hand faltered on the door to the truck as I took in James' words. I felt annoyed and immediately self conscious. I hadn't realized I had dressed in that kind of manner, but apparently, I had. My skirt was a good foot above my knee, the tank top had a very low neckline and was very tight, showing off all the curves of my body.

I jumped up into the passenger seat of James' truck and bit my lip nervously. James, taking in my expression, quickly put his hand over mine and said, "I didn't mean to offend you. It's just that I don't want there to be any trouble regarding you. You and I both know full well how many guys are after girls your age. And with a body like yours...well, you'd be hard to pass up."

I tried not to let James' words scare me as he started the car and headed down the street. Trying to reassure myself more than him, I stated, "But you'll be with me all day today, right? We're going everywhere together." Half distracted by the map he was looking at, James replied, "Yeah, today we will be, but usually we won't. I'll have band practice and some other job and you'll have your job. I can't look over you one hundred percent of the time."

James was right, but I kind of wished that he could be with me one hundred percent of the time anyway. We lapsed into silence, basically because I knew James was getting frustrated with the map. It hadn't taken me long to learn that he wasn't all that great with directions. After peering at the map, James took a left and started down the highway. I glanced down at the map to make sure he was traveling in the right direction. Surprisingly enough, he was.

It didn't take us long to get to James' destination. We had arrived at a little house that was in a neighborhood. The house was small, but friendly-looking. It was made of brick and had flowers planted around it. There was a little stone walkway that led up to the door. Feeling a little nervous about meeting whoever we were about to meet, I glanced up at James, hoping for some reassurance. I knew I was being kind of weak and pathetic, but James was the only person I could come to for comfort.

James, however, was not paying any attention to me right now. His gaze was focused on the little house ahead of us. He looked just as nervous as I was. As a matter of fact, I didn't think I had ever seen James look this nervous before. I did know that he could be shy with strangers, so I figured that he was just nervous about meeting this guy that we pretty much knew nothing about. I mean, the only thing James knew about him was the fact that he wanted to start a band. That was it.

With his eyes still focused on the house, James climbed out of the car and started towards the doorway. Leaving me no choice but to follow him, I swung down from the car as well and walked tentatively up the stone walkway to the door. When the two of us reached the doorway, both of us stood there for a few minutes without doing anything. Finally, after taking a deep breath, James pasted a friendly smile on his face and knocked on the door.

There was a long silence. I shifted from foot to foot nervously, wondering if maybe the guy James wanted to talk to wasn't even home. Just when I was going to suggest leaving, the door swung open and a guy about a foot shorter than James peered out at us. He had long, dark hair and curious brown eyes. There was something in his face that kind of unnerved me though. I couldn't tell what it was though. Maybe I was just being paranoid. I didn't meet new people very often so that was probably what it was.

"Oh, hey guys!" the man who had answered the door greeted us with his eyes lighting up in recognition, "You're James Hetfield, aren't you? Don't just stand there! Come on in!" The guy moved away from the doorway, motioning to us to come in with his arm. James and I exchanged glances and stepped into the little house. We followed the guy through a hallway and into a little room at the opposite end of the hallway. Inside, was a very small drum kit that looked like it had been built for a twelve-year-old. James was looking at it rather disdainfully, but quickly switched his expression when he realized the guy was looking at him.

"So James, let's see what you can do," the guy said, motioning to two chairs lined up on one side of the room. I sat down on one of them while James lifted up his guitar. I hadn't even seen him bring it into the house. Maybe I was going blind! James swung the guitar strap over his shoulder and asked shyly, "Um...what do you want me to play?"

"Anything! I just wanna hear you play!" the guy responded eagerly, sitting down in the chair next to me. I immediately stiffened and moved to the far side of my chair. I didn't like being too close to strangers. This guy didn't seem dangerous, but I didn't know him. Until I knew him better, I needed to always be on guard.

James started playing a tune on his guitar and I immediately forgot all about the stranger sitting next to me. It occurred to me only then that I had never heard James play his guitar before. He was way better than I thought he would be. His fingers flicked quickly and deftly over the guitar strings, creating a sound like I had never heard before. I watched James in complete awe until he finished and looked over at us nervously to see our reactions.

"Wow man!" the guy sitting in the chair next to me burst out, "That was awesome! You're amazing. You should definitely be on the band. Wanna hear me play drums?" James, blushing from the compliments, nodded without saying anything and took the guys' chair next to me. While the guy went to get settled behind the drums, I squeezed James hand and whispered in his ear, "You really are amazing. I hadn't heard you play before."

James looked down at me and smiled at me. That was when the guy at the drums started to play. He wasn't terrible, but he certainly wasn't amazing. One of the cymbals kept falling off the drum kit, causing the guy to stop and replace it every few seconds. James started biting his lip and looked like he was regretting his decision to join this band.

When the guy finished playing, he turned to James excitedly and exclaimed, "So I guess we're gonna start this band! This is awesome that I've finally got a rhythm guitarist. Hey, do you sing at all? I still need a vocalist and a lead guitarist." James' cheeks turned a light pink and he shrugged. The guy - I know I keep calling him "the guy", but I don't know what else to tell him since I didn't know his name yet - handed James a piece of paper and stuffed it into his hand.

"Those are just some song lyrics I wrote up one day. Why don't you go home and try them out? When you come back tomorrow, you can sing them for me and we'll see if you could be our vocalist," the guy suggested eagerly. This guy may not have tons of talent, but he certainly was loaded with enthusiasm.

James didn't seem nearly as enthusiastic. On the contrary, he seemed like he wasn't really sure about starting a band with this guy. James questioned suspiciously, "Do you have a bassist? We probably need a bassist if we're going to start a band." The man sitting across from us at the drums nodded, dark hair bobbing up and down, "Yeah, I have a bassist. His name is Ron McGovney. You'll meet him tomorrow. Ron's a good friend of mine. I'm sure you'll like him."

"Um," I interjected, "not trying to be rude or anything, but what's your name?" The guy laughed allowed at my question. His eyes flitted over to me and he looked me over like he was seeing me for the first time. His eyes wandered over my legs, chest, and then stopped on my face. James was right; I shouldn't have worn such a short skirt and skimpy tank top.

"I'm Lars Ulrich," the guy told me, holding out his hand, "and you are?" Hesitantly, I reached out my hand and shook Lars' hand. I couldn't decide if I liked Lars or not yet. He was very enthusiastic, but that didn't mean that he was a nice person or anything. Knowing I needed to reply to Lars' question, I said, "I'm Olivia Black."

"Well then, it's good to meet you Miss Black," Lars said, giving me a mock bow. "James should bring you by during band practice. It might give the band members some more motivation to work harder if a pretty little thing like you was listening to us." I could tell instantly that Lars was flirting with me, and again, I wasn't sure how I felt about this. I opened my mouth to say something, but I couldn't figure out what to say. My words seemed to get stuck somewhere in my brain.

Luckily, James answered for me, "Olivia needs to find a job. She'll normally be working during band meetings and stuff. We just moved here yesterday and we're going to have to find a way to pay the rent and all." Lars raised an eyebrow curiously and stood up from his drum kit. Stretching his arms above his head, he asked, "Oh really? Well, that's cool that you moved all the way here to start the band with me. So are you and her living together or something?"

The question was obviously directed towards James since Lars had referred to me as "her." James stood up and wrapped an arm rather protectively around my waist as he did so, "Yeah, we're sharing an apartment." Lars' face fell for a moment as he looked back over at me. For a moment, I wondered it maybe Lars had hoped to make me his girlfriend. Probably not, but the way he had been looking at me earlier had indicated attraction.

Suddenly, Lars' face lit up, "Hey, I have the perfect job for Olivia! Why don't I bring her by the place and see if she wants to take the job offer?" Lars knew a place where I could find work? That was surprising, but definitely a good thing. I looked at James with a smile on my face. The sooner I got a job, the better!