Emotional Connection

conspiracies over coffee

Jace knew James was good friends with both Charlie and Ashley, though it was clear he was getting tired of how Ashley was behaving towards Charlie. Which was strange, considering James probably knew she had every right to treat him as she did after what he'd done. Not that either Ashley or Jace held it against him for not liking Ashley as she'd liked him, (and still did in Jace's opinion, but that was another matter) but for never replying or bothering to respond to her letter spelling out her feelings for him. That, in Jace's opinion, wasn't something he could easily forgive, and definitely something that needed a flawless explanation.
But James seemed to be just as infuriated with Charlie as he was with Ashley when he walked in dripping blood from his ears in the middle of their shift.

Jace allowed James to care for him, admitting him to a bed for a few hours for observation before he pulled him a chair next to his own, giving him a questioning look.

James sighed as he sat next to Jace. "You're friends with Ash, right? Like pretty close?"
Jace nodded.
"Is she completely oblivious or a masochist?"

Blinking, he tripped over his words for a few seconds. "Um, I-, what, just- I- No? What?"

James stared before realising that Jace had no idea what he was talking about. "I'm talking in regards to Charlie? Does she enjoy hurting herself emotionally over it all? Is that why she won't let him talk to her about what happened?"

"She doesn't want it to hurt even more if she does talk to him about it. In fairness, he was sort of a dick."

"If you're talking about the letter, then yeah, ok, but now Ashley's the one behaving like a dick."

Jace gave him a strange look, "how? Charlie keeps trying to bring it up and hurt her all over again and that's not fair."

"So-" looking taken aback, he fell silent for a few seconds. "So Ashley really has no idea? Wow. Charlie's not trying to hurt her, he's trying - admittedly very badly - to tell her he loves her."

It took a few moments for him to understand what James had just said, but when it registered everything fell into place. "Oh- oh. Well, Holy Moses- this is a bit of a mess." He sighed, "and considering she won't admit she still loves him, that just makes it worse."

"Won't admit or doesn't know?"

"Both."

They both sighed.

"I'm going out with her, to the town, after our shift, maybe I can talk to her about it." Jace shrugged. "But it's Ashley-Rae, so no promises on what happens."

James grimaced, waving goodbye to Charlie as he walked out, having completed his hours in observation. "There's more." He nodded to where Abi had already cornered Charlie as he was trying to escape the hospital, "Abi also likes Charlie."

Jace watched, rolling his eyes at Abi. He had a few shifts with her, and had come to the conclusion that she definitely sometimes needed a reality check, especially when it came to her own sense of self. "What does Charlie think about that?"

"He has no idea. You really think he'd notice?"

"If anyone acted like that around me, I'd have my suspicions."

James rolled his eyes, bumping his shoulder into Jace's. "Yeah, but with Charlie so entirely in love with Ash, it won't take anything less than Abi declaring her undying love for him for him to notice."

Jace chuckled, imagining the scene she'd make. "I would absolutely not recommend she do that, but I would like to see how it plays out. But, let me guess, she knows he wants Ashley, she thinks he's too good for Ashley, and that she herself would be a better fit. How close am I?"