✓ | Mr. Hetfield, My Teacher. [Metallica: James Hetfield]

Chapter 26

Once Ali and Kate landed in Chicago, they said their friendly goodbyes to Seth and Phillip. Ali noticed that Phillip kept a pretty stern demeanour and didn't really say much. She knew that he had probably seen the ring.

"So, I guess we'll see you around?" Seth asked as they gathered all their luggage and placed it in the taxi.

"Yeah definitely. See ya." Kate smiled and handed Seth a paper that contained her number secretly. Ali looked over to Phillip who just walked away and didn't say anything. She didn't know why but it bothered her that he was ignoring her. At the same time Ali understood though if it was indeed about the ring. As they placing their bags into their own taxi, Ali took her phone out and called James like she promised she would. It rang about three times before he finally answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey baby. I just landed." Ali smiled to herself.

"That's good babe. I'm glad you had a safe flight." James sighed.

"Are you ok James? You sound upset." Ali asked concerned.

''I just miss you already. That's all." James said honestly although he was upset about something. He thought that Kristen had left but he was apparently wrong. She was currently taking a shower in his house because she decided it was cute to cover herself in chocolate syrup in order to seduce him; which didn't end up working.

"I miss you too babe. You know what though, every time I look at the ring you gave me, I feel like you're right here with me. I love you."

"I love you too." James heard the bathroom door open. "Umm, babe I'm going to let you go so you can get settled with Kate. You can call me later tonight ok. Bye love you." James didn't wait for Ali to answer and just hung up. He didn't want Kristen to hear him talking to her. She would know who it was and would try something right there and then.

James saw Kristen enter the living room with nothing but a towel wrapped around her body. He saw her from the corner of his eye and didn't turn to see her. "I think you forgot to put your clothes on." he said sternly.

"Silly Hetfield. I don't have any clean clothes with me. The clothes I came with is covered in chocolate remember?" Kristen laughed.

James rolled his eyes. "Than I guess you're leaving with nothing but a towel on." He stood up, grabbed Kristen's bag and dragged her by the arm to the front door.

"James, you're hurting my arm. You're seriously going to let me leave like this?!" Kristen yelled and yanked her arm away from his grip.

"Yes! I want you to get the hell out and leave me the fuck alone!" James' faced turned bright red with rage.

"You know, for someone who claims they have a girlfriend...I don't see her here, I haven't heard you talk on the phone with her. Are you sure you're not lying me?" Kristen did the unexpected and unwrapped the towel from her body, letting it fall into a heap behind her.

"For fucks sake Kristen!" James rubbed his temples and turned his back to her. He couldn't believe that he let himself be in this type of situation. Ali had only left hours ago and he was already in a position where he had his ex-girlfriend naked, in the middle of his living room. He should have never let her inside his house in the first place. James jumped when he felt Kristen wrap her arms around his waist. "Kristen get off of me." James whispered. He could feel Kristen's breasts press against his back and he just held his hands up. He looked down to the front of his jeans. He was in trouble.

Ali and Kate managed to get to their apartment pretty quickly. Luckily enough, their parents had arranged for new furniture and everything else they needed, to be in place by the time they got there. They entered and sure enough everything was there. There were only a couple of boxes that needed to be unpacked.

"I'm sure it's nothing Ali. He was probably busy and had to hang up right away." Kate tried to assure her.

"I don't know. He sounded upset and he didn't even wait for me to say bye. He just hung up on me." Ali shrugged.

"It's nothing. I don't know about you, but I'm glad we don't have to do much. I'm tense right now from the flight." Kate sat on the couch, relaxed and changed the subject.

"Yeah me too." Ali agreed.

"How about we go out? We should explore what this city has to offer."

"I don't know Kate. We just got here and-"

"Oh c'mon Ali. School doesn't start in a couple of weeks. We need to take advantage and go out. Get familiar with the city." Kate pressed.

"Ugh, okay fine." Ali gave in. Kate jumped up with joy and headed for the bathroom. Ali noticed that there was a piece of paper on the couch where Kate was sitting. Must of fell out of her pocket. Ali thought and went to go get it. She decided to unfold it to see what it was. She unfolded it and saw it was Seth's number AND Phillip's as well. She began to wonder why Kate didn't say anything. Out of instinct, Ali took her phone out and saved both numbers to her phone. She did it so fast and wasn't thinking clearly. When she heard Kate come out the bathroom, she headed over to her.

"Kate, when did Phillip and Seth give you this?" Ali asked lifting up the folded paper.

"Oh umm, Seth gave it to me...on the plane." Kate scratched her scalp. She was hoping Ali wasn't mad at her for not telling her. Then again, why would she be? It's not a big deal. Ali shouldn't be phased by this. Kate thought.

"Oh...and he gave you Phillip's too huh."

"Yeah but there's not use for it."

"What do you mean?" Ali asked confused.

"Well yeah. I mean it's obvious the number is for you but why would you want it?"

"Kate, seriously? Yes I'm with James and I love him to death. You know it, I know it, and so does James. That doesn't mean that we can't make friends here. We're going to be here approximately 4 years. We are allowed to make friends right?" Ali put her hands on her hips. She knew what Kate was saying and Ali didn't blame her considering the affect that Phillip left on her but she would never do anything with him. Then again, she didn't know if she was trying to convince James or herself.

"I guess you're right. I'm sorry that I thought that way in the first place. And yeah, of course we have to make friends. I guess we can start with those two." Kate sighed. Based on Ali's reaction, she was convinced that Ali would never do anything to hurt James. "I'm going to go change so we can go out...that's if you still want to."

"Of course I want to. I'm going to do the same." Once Ali entered her room and closed the door, she pulled her phone out. First she called her mom and informed her that they got to Chicago safely and everything was ok. She spoke with her mom for a couple of minutes and then hung up. Once the Ali hung up with her she went back to her contacts and looked for the next person she wanted to talk to. The petite young women smiled and quickly hit dial. It rang a couple of times and then someone finally picked up.

"Hello?"

"Phillip? It's me Ali..."