Surf's Up!

I lifted my long black hair away from my neck with a sigh as I watched the ocean longingly through the window of the surf shop I owned. It was a typical sunny day in San Francisco, and I wanted to catch some waves instead of being stuck inside. I gave myself a mental shake and returned to work, there was a big shipment of custom painted surf boards just waiting to get up on the rack. I had been working for a while when I heard the chime over the door tinkle, signaling somebody had walked in. I looked around myself briefly, boxing and wrapping paper were everywhere.

“Oh well, Steve can take care of it.” I thought to myself.

Steve was my fiancee for 3 years, and I knew he would be around there somewhere to help out the customer. I ignored the footsteps I heard walking around the shop for a while, but when it became clear Steve was nowhere to be found I stood up cursing under my breathe. I stepped over a few boxes and made my way to the dark haired man standing with his back to me, looking at surf boards. He had long black curly hair which was now dripping wet, and he was wearing a wetsuit that was just as soaked. He had left a trail of water behind him as he wandered around the shop, and frankly he looked like a drowned rat.
“Can I help you sir?” I asked politely although I couldn’t manage to hold back the smile that tugged at the corners of my lips. He turned around at the sound of my voice, and smiled apologetically.

“Yeah that would be great, I was out there surfing, but I got wiped out and my board floated away and hit a passing jet ski. I was hoping to find a good board here, I just got in the water and I don’t want to go home to get another one.”

“I’m sure I can help you, our boards are all custom made and very good. Did you see one you liked ?” I asked him as I walked towards the rack he had been looking at.
“Actually, yeah that one is pretty cool.” He nodded and pointed to a board with red flames all over one side and grey smoke on the other.

“Thats a good one, I just got it in last week. Tell you what, I’ll give you a discount since you lost your other board so tragically” I said, and grinned at him. I had just noticed he was really cute, and I could swear I had seen him before, somewhere.

“Thats really nice of you, but you don’t have to do that.” He said, seeming almost embarrased.

“It’s no problem I assured him. I grabbed the board and moved toward the check out counter and rang him up.
As he paid he said “This is a really nice store you have here, I love your boards. Do you surf?”

“Yeah I do. Only took it up a couple years ago though, my main passion is scuba diving”

“Thats cool.” He said slowly, his eyes found mine and he smiled slowly. “I’m here alot, I’ll keep my eyes open for you out there, it would be fun to cruise some waves together.”

I nodded “Yeah that would be fun. I guess I’ll see you around.” He said goodbye and headed for the door with his board under his arm.


After the mystery guy left, I realized Steve had been nowhere to be seen the whole time he was there.
“Goddamn it” I cursed, walking to the back storage area, no Steve there. I finally found him outside smoking a joint.
“I didn’t realize it was break time already.” I said dryly. This happened all to often and it pissed me off every time.
”It’s no fucking business of yours what time it is.” He snapped. I shook my head, trying not to let my annoyance get the better of me.
“I thought that shit was supposed to make you mellow?” I wondered out loud as I walked away. There would be no talking to him in that mood. Our relationship wasn’t exactly great anymore. We had met when I was only 16 years old and had been together for 4 years when I became pregnant, thats when we got engaged. I lost the baby when I was 13 weeks along, and since then things between us has been sliding steadily downhill.
Weeks passed, and I went out surfing almost everyday, but I never saw my mystery man again. Everytime I thought about him I had this nagging feeling I should definatly know who he was. Today was Sunday, so the shop was closed. I was on my way to the beach with my dog Jerry, a very large german shepherd. Steve was still sleeping off all the beers he had drunk the night before. I definatly wasn’t going to think about him today so I punched up the volume on Kill ‘em All and headbanged all the way to the beach. When I got there I grabbed my board, as well as my bag containing a big towel, mp3 player and a book. I looked over the water, it was pretty crowded. I decided to catch some rays instead, so spread out my towel, took out my mp3 player and settled down to relax in the sun. Jerry lay down next to me, tongue wagging. I hadn’t been there for long when I felt something block the sunlight. I opened my eyes, prepared to verbally abuse the person who stood in the way of me and sunbathing when I noticed it was him, the mystery man. When he saw he had my attention he smiled at sat down next to me. I removed the headphones from my ears and smiled back at him.

“Well hello, fancy seeing you here.”

“I was hoping to see you around, I didn’t even get your name the other day.”

“It’s Valerie, call me Val.” I told him, and then asked “What’s yours?”

“Kirk.” He answered, and then Jerry chose that moment to get to know him, and Kirk started to scratch him behind the ears. My mind was racing, this wasn’t Kirk Hammett, was it? I owned all the Metallica CDs, and I searched my mind for the pictures inside the CD case, I hardly ever looked at them and it took me a while to be sure.
I finally found my voice and asked “Kirk Hammett??”

He looked at me with an amused grin. “Yeah, last time I checked” He joked. “That’s why you havn’t seen me around, I’ve been playing gigs on the east coast these couple of weeks.”

“I feel like an idiot not realizing who you were, I’ve been a fan for years and have all the albums.” I said sheepishly.

“No problem, I like that I can talk to you like just any other person, it’s kinda refreshing.” He said softly.


I watched him play with Jerry absetmindedly, I just couldn’t believe I had met Kirk Hammett, and didn’t even know it!

“You got a frisbee?” He asked suddenly.

“In the car, yeah. Why?” I asked him.

“I just though it would be fun to throw it around, and play with this dude.”

I went to the car and got the frisbee, and the rest of the day was spent horsing around and then we went out to catch some waves. Kirk was so nice to me that I immediatly felt at ease with him, and I was almost sorry to call it a day when the sun started to set.

“Well Val, I had alot of fun today, I hope I’ll see you again soon.” Kirk said as we walked to our cars, our surfboards under our arms.

“Well you know where to find me, if I’m not at the beach I’m at the shop.”

“You make it sounds like you’re never home.”

“Well, I’m not there alot no, me and Jerry prefer the beach.” I said with a smile.

“And what about the guy who gave you that ring?” Kirk asked, looking pointedly at my left hand.

“We just don’t have the same hobbies I guess.”

“What would his hobbies be then?”

“Watching football and drinking beer.” I said with a slight laugh. I really didn’t want to dump my problems on Kirk. I saw the look he gave me, like he wanted to say something about him.

Before he could, I said “Things are fine, it’s just a long story.”

We had reached my car and Kirk gave me a quick hug and said “I’d like to hear that story one day.” I jumped into the car, and before I took off I said “We’ll see...one day.” and waved goodbye.
I arrived home to find Steve watching TV with a beer in hand.

When he heard me come in he snarled “Where the hell have you been?”

“At the beach” I snapped at him. Damn but he managed to piss me off with that attitude. I saw Kirks sympathetic face in my mind as I walked into the bathroom. “Surely I could fix things with Steve?” I thought to myself. It was sad to think that after all these years things wern’t better between us.
The rest of the week I spent working long hours, and didn’t make it to the beach at all. The next time I went to the beach I started by jogging with Jerry, something we both loved to do. By the time I was ready to head out in the water I hadn’t seen Kirk anywhere. A couple hours later I was laying on my back on my board, arms and legs dangling in the water when I heard somebody call my name. Sitting up, I held up my hand in front of my eyes as I scanned the water. I saw two dark haired men paddle towards me, I soon recognized one as Kirk.

“Hey you’re here!” He greeted me cheerfully. “Meet my friend Rob, he plays bass in the band.”

“Hi, i’m Val” I greeted him as we shook hands. I couldn’t resist giving him the once over, he was definatly hot.

“Lets catch some waves!” Kirk said.

“Sounds good.” Rob agreed.
I nodded and we started paddling out into deeper water. The sun was setting as we made our way to the beach again. We threw ourselves onto the towels, and lay there baking under the sun for a while, while we regained our breathe.

“That last wave was a big one huh guys.” I said, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen over us.

“Yeah that was awesome man” Rob said, still not opening his eyes.

“Hey Val, would you want to hit a few clubs with us tonight?” Kirk asked suddenly.

“Who would us be?”

“Well, me, Rob, Lars and James. Lani might drop by as well.” Kirk told me. He had mentioned his wife to me, so I didn’t have to ask who she was, and I thankfully knew who James and Lars were, so I wouldn’t make an ass out of myself like when I met Kirk.

“Sure that sounds like fun” I said, silently hoping Steve would have already left for the bar with his buddies, it would not be pretty if he saw me go out on a saturday night without him.

“Why don’t you give me a call when you know where you’ll be?” I suggested.

“How about I pick you up?” Nodding, I gave Kirk my address.

“Hey is it ok if I take a buddy along?” I asked them.

“No problem” Rob said, and Kirk nodded his agreement. “The more the merrier man.”

“Great, well guys I better get going if i’m going to be able to get ready in time.”
We said our goodbyes and I walked to my car, Jerry at my heels. “This ought to be interesting” I thought to myself as I drove home. As I drove I called up my best friend Simone. We had met in high school, and been friends ever since, and since she was my only friend who shared my love of Metallica it was only logical I asked her along.

“Hey Val whats up?” She greeted me cheerfully.

“A party, thats whats up.”

“Really? What kind of party?”

“A party with rock stars, booze, and me. So it’s a win win situation.” I joked with her.

“No way!” She gasped. “I get to meet your little famous friends?”

“Well...not with that attitude....”

We continued to bullshit each other back and forth for a while, and I then I told her I’d call her at 9 to let her know where to find us, and to ready or else.
The house was thankfully empty when I got home, so I jumped in the shower. After some thought I decided to wear dark jeans, and a red halter top. Not formal, but not my usual outfit of bikini top and sweat pants either. I dryed my hair, letting it fall freely around my face and then dusted powder over my face, added mascara and red lip gloss and I was ready to go. My phone rang as I was deciding on what shoes to wear.
I answered and heard Kirks cheerful voice on the other end.

“Hey babe, I’m almost at your place. You ready?”

“Apart from a shoe crisis yes.” I said dryly. Kirk just chuckled, so I told him I’d be out in a minute and closed my phone. Found a pair of red stilettos, and walked out the door trying to look calm. I wasn’t a star struck teenager, but still I was both looking forward to and dreading meeting all of them.
A cab pulled up in my driveway and I peered into the window of the back seat, vaguely making out black curls. I walked over and got in the car, but couldn’t resist teasing him a little.

“This is your idea of picking me up?” I said, raising my eyebrow.

“Yeah, cool ride huh?” Kirk grinned at me, playing along.

“Yeah....the ripped leather seats add to the charm”

“Well, I will take you out for a drive in my car one day, but I though the cab would be a good idea for tonight because we are gonna have fun...and driving home isn’t a part of the plan.”
We chatted on the way to the club, and before I knew it, we had arrived.


We walked into the noisy smoke filled club, Kirk put his hand at the small of my back guiding me through the crowd. We reached a door flanked by two bouncers. When they saw Kirk they grinned and opened the door for us. As Kirk passed they did some handshake thing I could never understand and then we entered the VIP area. Here the smoke was not as overbearing, the music wasn’t as loud and I was sure there were other musicians there too, although I didn’t realize who they were. Silently cursing myself for never taking notice of the faces of the CD covers I bought I did see one familiar face, Rob’s. We were heading for a table where he was sitting with James and Lars. When Rob saw us his face lit up in a big grin and he stood up. I thought he was going to greet Kirk but insead passed him and enveloped me in a bear hug.

“Good to see you Val.” He said warmly when he let me go. I felt my cheeks heat up slightly when I noticed both James and Lars were looking at me curiosly.

“You too, you look different out of the wetsuit.” I couldn’t resist teasing him.
He chuckled a little selfconsiously.

“Hey man!” Lars suddenly piped up. “Do I have to fucking take a number to meet the cute girl or what?” He grinned impishly and stood up, taking my hand and kissing it with a flourish.

“Lars Ulrich, pleased to meet you. Please forgive these rude neanderthals, would you care to take a seat?”

He guided me the short way to the table where James was sitting. As we walked I hear snorts of laughter coming from behind me. As we all took our seats I noticed Lars’ pupils were very very small, and I wondered what he was on. I didn’t wonder for long because James reached across the table to introduce himself.

“Hi my name is James, nice to meet you.” He said in a deep voice and smiled. Gazing into those electric blue eyes, I literally got goosebumps. I realized I had been staring when Kirks voice jolted me back to reality.

“This is Val. She has a kick ass surfing shop by the beach, thats where I met her.” Kirk said by way of introduction.

“You surf?” Lars asked me. At my nod, he continued “Are you any good?”

“Well I like to think so, I used to compete.” I answered dryly.

This seemed to snag Robs interest. “Won any titles?”

“Well last compitition I won was the Capitola womans contest in ’99.”

Our converstation was interupted by the bartender bringing alcohol to the table. Guess you didn’t have to get your beer yourself if you’re VIP I thought to myself, accepting a bottle of Stella from Lars. I called up Simone to let her know where we were and sat back, sipping my beer and observing the guys.

I think I noted some tension between Lars and James, they wern’t really talking to each other, but Kirk and Rob kept the conversation going so it wasn’t really noticable. I felt my purse vibrating and I fished for my phone, wondering who would be calling me? My question was answered when i finally found the damn phone, the monitor said “Simone”

“Yeah?”

“Hey Val, I’m at the club, but these fuckers here at the VIP door won’t let me pass!” Her voice rose in indignition. I couldn’t help but laugh at her.

“Hold tight, I’ll be right out.” I told her, still chuckling. Putting the phone back I noticed I had 4 pairs of eyes trained on me.

“My friend is here, but there is a, uh, issue at the VIP door.” I said as I stood up.

“Hey i’ll go with you!” Lars jumped up “Any excuse to help out a damsel in distress.” A wink and a grin and he had already started for the door, as I started to follow him I heard James mutter behind me.
“Any excuse to fucking jump around more likely.”
Stifling a giggle I hurried after Lars who had reached the doors.

“Val! Thank god!” Simone exclaimed as I emerged behind Lars. She glared pointedly at them and strode over to me, giving me a big hug.

“Well this evening is definatly shaping up.” Lars remarked behind us. With a roll of my eyes I turned to introduce them.

“Lars, this is my friend Simone. Simone this is my little famous friend Lars”
He had already taken her hand but at my remark turned to me, eyebrows raised.

“Private joke.” I told him. “Nothing you would understand.”
Lars just shook his head and turned his attention back to Simone.

“See this? No respect?” I heard him whine cheekily behind me and I made my way back to the table.
After Simone arrived, and a couple of other girls had mysteriously appeared as well, then conversation was more lively then before, which may or may not be the result of all the empty bottles now littering the table in front of us. I had lost count of the drinks i’ve had, and in my experience thats never good. I was sitting between James and Simone, leaning more and more on James.

“You ok?” James asked me, a smile playing on his lips.

“That dependssh.” I said dramatically, raising my glass in the air as I squinted at him.

“On what?”

“On how many of you were here when I arrived, cause now there are three of you.”
James chuckled, taking the glass from my hand, returning it to the table and then raising me to a better sitting position.

“Thatss better.” I sighed contentedly as his arm went around my shoulder. I wasn’t aware he was only trying to keep me upright, I just seized the oppurtunity and made myself comfortable. James shrugged, took a swig from his drink and his hand started wandering up and down my upper arm. My head was spinning pleasantly, and the touch of his fingers on my flesh were definatly turning me on.

I lay against James, eyes half closed, my fingers playing with the straw in my drink when my damn phone rang. Doing my best to sit up straight again, I picked up the phone and looked at the screen. “Steve” It said.

“Uh-oh” I thought to myself “I am way to drunk to handle this” Biting my lower lip, I pressed the green button.

“Hellooo?” I said, trying my best to sound halfway sober.

“Hey, where are you? I just got home and saw you wern’t here.” Steve said.

“Well, I got bored and deshided to go oout.”

“Val you are fucking trashed. Where the hell are you?”

“At a club.” I answered vaguely. I definatly wasn’t feeling comfortable, here I was trying to explain things to my fiancee, when everybody at the table had stopped talking and were blatantly eavesdropping.

“Who are you with?” Steve demanded, his voice rising. I had a strong feeling this conversation was going down the drain fast, so what was a girl to do? Fib.

“Shimone” I answered, trying to inject wounded pride into my voice, but doubted I was successful since I couldn’t stop slurring. Dammit.

“Get home in 20 minutes or there will be hell to pay!” He announced and hung up on me.
I stared at the phone for a second, then erupted into giggles. Hell to pay indeed! All of a sudden, I heard Jim Carrey say that line in the christmas movie “The Grinch” and as soon as that popped into my head I started laughing hysterically. I lay my head down on my arms over the table, my shoulders shaking. When I finally managed to get a grip I sat up again, wiping my eyes. I still had the attention of everyone at the table.

“What did he say?” Kirk asked me.

“There will be hell to paaaaay!” I announced in a dramatic voice then started giggling again. Thankfully I managed to stop this time before I lost it again. All the guys laughed, but Simone looked at me with a frown.

“Seriously Val, what did he say?”

“That if i’m not home in 20 minutes there will be hell to pay.” I said with a small shrug.

“What??” James exclaimed. “Is this dude for real?”

“Oh very.” Simone answered him. “He’s a total asshole.”

“Simone!” I hissed. “Thats not really what we want to talk about now is it?” She merely snorted.

“Val please. You don’t do anything without his permission. And how longs has it been since you had sex?”
My mouth merely opened and closed, with no sound coming out. Finally I found my voice.

“That is none of your business!” I said rather weakly, I knew I was doomed. Simone got brutally honest after a few drinks, and now she even had an audience.

“Hah! I knew it! It’s been months, right?”

Lars snorted in disbelief before I could answer.

“I have my reasons, ok? I don’t pry into your sexlife!” I tryed to end the sentance in joke, but failed. Kirk and Rob looked at me with worry in their eyes, Lars seemed slightly incredulous. I had to get out of here. Standing to my feet abruptly, I had to grip the table to steady myself.

“I have to go to the little girls room, be right back.”

I flounced off, in the direction of a dark alcove I had spotted before. Thankfully my guess was right, and the toilet was in the alcove. I slipped into a stall, and locked the door leaning against the wall with a loud sigh. After a few minutes I decided to just go back out there and have fun.

“Fuck it.” I muttered to myself as I stepped into the darkly lit alcove. I started slightly when I stopped James leaning against the wall.

“You ok?” He asked when he saw me.

“Sure, why?”

“No reason, good to see your friend didn’t get you down.” He started to walk towards me and didn’t stop until I was almost backed against the wall.

“She dosn’t know as much as she thinks she does.” I replied lightly, trying to ignore the butterflies that were now fluttering in my stomache like crazy with James so close.

“Good” He murmered, moving right up to me. His arms went up against the wall, pinning me between the wall and his body.

“Hate to think of a pretty little thing like you with some asshole.” He leaned in and I could feel his warm breathe against my cheek, smell his cologne, but when I looked up and into his eyes I knew I was doomed. He grinned slightly, bending his head ever so slowly towards mine until our lips met in the lightest of kisses.
I knew I should move away, I knew I should tell him to stop, but damn if I wanted to.
“Hell to pay my ass” I thought to myself before closing my eyes and putting my arms around his neck. James deepened the kiss, carressing my tongue with his, his leg went up between mine to slowly rub against me. I felt my heartbeat quicken and I grabbed James more firmly to be sure I wouldn’t simply melt into a puddle. The feel of his wet tongue flicking against mine combined with his knee between my legs was driving me wild. He finally let go of my lips to kiss my neck, his mouth leaving a trail of moisture.

“Jamess...” I wimpered weakly.

I heard somebody clear their throat loudly and the door to the bathroom swing open. I looked up, alarmed but thankfully it was nobody I knew. James had also looked up at the sound, and I used this oppurtunity to gently disentagle myself from James. When I looked up at him he was still panting slightly, his fingers were raking through his hair and he had a sheepish expression on his face.

“How about we get back out there before they send out a search party?” I said, my flippant tone at odds with my pulse, still pounding against my ears.
He nodded, and without giving him the chance to say something, I turned and started walking towards the table.