End Of Passion Play - {James Hetfield/Metallica}

Chapter 22 | Skye Hill

Three months later, it was a late night in early spring. We had just had a jam session at Lar's place.

"See ya, Het! See ya, Sarah! You, too, Blair!" he called out to me as we all walked down his steps.

"Bye!" Me and Sarah said in unison. I threw my guitar in the back of my truck, and she threw her bass in there.

"Hey, James!" Kirk said, coming up behind me once Sarah and Blair were in the truck.

"Yeah?" I asked.

He handed me a cigarette and lit it for me. "You going to show Sarah the place up in Skye Hill?".

I nodded, exhaling smoke through my nose. "Yup.".

"Awesome. Good luck, I hope she likes it.". We both crushed our cigarette butts on the road.

I let out a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, me, too.".

"I bet she will. She's an angel. Really, man, you're so lucky to have her.".

I smiled to myself, knowing Kirk was right. "Yeah, I am.".

Here, take this." he told me, handing me his pack of cigarettes.

"Thanks, man!" I replied.

"No, problem. See you 'round.".

"Alright, bye, Kirk. Love you, man.".

"Love you, too.".

I got into the truck, and I wasn't aware of the smile on my face until Blair pointed it out.

"Dad, why are you smiling like that?" she asked me.

"Eh, I'm just happy." I told her, trying to contain my mix of excitement and nervousness. I drove out of Lars' neighborhood and past the 7-11, where I'd usually take a left turn.

When I turned onto the highway, Sarah knew we weren't going home. "James, where are we going?" she asked.

I chuckled, turning up the radio -which was playing War Pigs- a little bit. "You'll see, love. It's a surprise!" I told her.

***

"Can we open our eyes yet?" Sarah asked me as I parked in front of the big two level house at the top of the hill.

"Yeah! Open 'em!" I replied, excited to see her and Blair's reaction.

Her jaw dropped and she turned to me with huge eyes. "James… are we… HOLY SHIT!" she exclaimed, getting out of the truck.

"What?" Blair asked as we walked up to it. "It's just a big house.".

Sarah grabbed her hand and they ran towards the 'For Sale' sign. "Look!" she exclaimed, pointing at the big yellow 'sold' sign slapped across it. "Blair, we're gonna live here!".

"Us! Here!" Blair asked. "Oh my god, that's awesome!".

Sarah ran up to me and threw her arms around me, pressing her lips to my cheek. "Oh my god, James! I love you! I love you so much!" she told me.

"I love you, too, hun." I told her.

She looked up into my eyes, and I noticed that she was crying. "I've always dreamed of living here, you know that? And now… now my dream came true. Because of you.".

I placed my hands on her waist and pulled her close to me, kissing her.

"What made you wanna move?" she asked me, looking from my eyes, to my lips, to my eyes again.

"Well, we've been in the same goddamn house since '87, I figured it was time to move onto something better." I told her.

"Oh, James." she giggled. I leaned in to kiss her again.