Karlie was confused for a second, but quickly realised what he'd said before. "I'm not going to fucking hit you Blake, but she might!" He snapped, standing almost half a foot taller than the other. Meanwhile, Cherii had officially fallen off the edge. She felt too cornered, and instinctively hit James when he accidentally got too close to her while calming her down. "Shit-" Karlie turned and put James behind him, seeing what had happened. He was trying to manage too many things right now, and everything had started falling apart yet again. Cherii was standing there with her back against the wall, furious tears in her eyes while she continued to growl angry things at her father while he tried to talk her down. He put his arm on her shoulder in an attempt to get her to refocus, but that only made things worse. *"Don't fucking touch me!"* She shouted, not even noticing how she was saying the same things Blake had been.
James hadn't been expecting the hit so it shocked him. Though the moment James did get hit it seemed to bring Blake had to reality. A look of horror flashed off his face, "O-Oh god. I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen!" The panic was clear and James was quick to try and calm him down
Karlie had no clue what to do. He'd dealt with her episodes for her whole life, but she'd never freaked out like this before. Part of him was pissed at Blake for setting this off, but he also knew it wasn't his fault. This was just how she was sometimes, and there was nothing they could do to change that.
The more he tried to diffuse the situation, the worse it seemed to get. He couldn't touch Cherii, but she also wouldn't calm down. Karlie glanced at James, who was still trying to calm Blake down, but didn't find any answers there. "Fuck- I- I have to get her out, dammit- She can't handle all this!" He had both his hands out in front of him to show he wasn't a threat, but it didn't seem to be working at all.
"Everyone. Just be quiet." James said. Once everything was silent, he waited. Blake was slower calming down but HS had cornered himself away from Cherii scared he might hurt her. James looked at Cherii, watching her body language
Cherii's eyes were frantically darting around the room, looking for an exit, but she couldn't find any. She was backed up against the wall with her dad blocking in front of her. She couldn't move, and James seemed to notice that. She saw him put his arm on her papa's shoulder, and he slowly put his hands down. Then she broke. All the anger she had felt before just flooded away, melting into fear and melancholy. Tears were streaming rapidly down her face, and she was still muttering things no one could understand. She'd been shaking for a few minutes when her legs finally gave out and she slid down the wall, pulling her knees up to her chest and avoiding looking at anyone.
James gently moved Karlie away from her. James said nothing as he got a blanket and carefully out it on Cherii's shoulders. He then sat on the floor a few feet from her to let her know it was ok, that he wasn't going to hurt her
Cherii slowly looked back up at him, feeling awful about hitting him earlier. All of her emotions were crashing into her like a wave all at once, and she was having a pretty shitty time trying to process it. "I-I'm-" She was trying to apologize, but it just came out as nonsense. She buried her head in her knees, tangling her hands into her hair to try and get a grip.
After a few minutes he slowly got closer to her and he gently put a hand on her shoulder. "listen to me. Its not your fault ok? I need you to do me a favor. Can you look up and find something blue in here?" He asked softly and calmly
Cherii flinched a little when she felt him touch her, but didn't react as poorly as she had before. After several minutes, she finally responded with, "P-Poster." She tried to remember the words, but that was the only one she could think of. There were blue accents on the lacrosse poster, and that was the only thing she could really find that had blue.
Karlie had been standing there watching as James was somehow able to get her to ground herself again. He knew this wasn't the time to be thinking about it, but he was totally in love. James cared enough to actually help out, and he was able to understand her in ways that he and Caleb had never been able to. He decided to just back off and let him do his thing, not wanting to fuck things up by accident. He noticed Blake backing up a bit, but wasn't quite sure what to say. "You fucked this up, now go fix it." He told him quietly once Cherii seemed at least somewhat alright.
James nodded slowly, "Good job." He said remaining quiet and calm. "Can you tell me something in here that's red?" He asked quietly. Blake looked at Karlie and shook his head, "I need out." Was all he said as he made his way for the door
