Run | Elizabeth Olsen

two.

LATER, SAME DAY | 2016

Ashley and Mary-Kate squeezed Isabella Booker in between their bodies in a hug that was so tight, they could feel her ribcage and her slow breathing. The quiet setting of Mary-Kate's house had quelled some of the anxiety that still lingered over Isabella's head, and their joint hug did the work of a thousand therapy sessions as her heart fixed itself up.

"You go change, okay?" Mary-Kate pulled away first, but Ashley held on for a couple seconds longer, wanting to assure that Isabella was really okay before she let go. "You know where I keep them."

Isabella had seen nights like this on a couple of occasions, usually on a lighter note, but she was thankful for the company even if she didn't have an option on declining. Her body felt heavy now, running on very little sleep and only a protein shake as sustenance, mixed with her panic attack in the staircase. She just wanted to stay wrapped up in their hug for a couple of minutes longer, but she nodded nonetheless and began her ascent up the stairs toward the guest bedroom where some of her clothes had been left.

"We're gonna break into a bottle, red or white?" Ashley called up the stairs, and Isabella smiled at her consideration for what she preferred.

"White." She called back before she disappeared around the corner and let herself feel the pain she'd been pushing off since that evening. Her heart hammered in her chest, she can still feel his hands sneaking past the slit on her gown exploring parts of her body she never wanted him to touch, she can still feel her hands on her neck as she's pinned against the wall and berated for an assault she tried to stop.

Stripping out of her work clothes, she left them folded on the edge of the guest bed. After almost eight months of working with Mary-Kate and building up a relationship that went against her better judgement, she knew that even if she tried to take them home with her, the younger twin would take them and wash them, and they'd be thrown into the closet with the rest of her miscellaneous pieces.

She pulled black leggings over her hips, and forwent a bra as she shimmied into a t-shirt with her high schools logo on the front. Campbell Hall had been her home for the last four years of her education, the scholarship she earned saving her parents bank account of bankruptcy even though her father still goes about draining his savings on cameras and film equipment. She misses them, she misses her mother.

Tying her hair up into a ponytail, she comes back downstairs without shoes, only wearing mismatched pink and green socks. Ashley laughs when she sees Isabella, a smirk hanging off her lips.

"You know that's not your shirt, right?" The blonde teases, handing off a glass of wine that Isabella gratefully accepts.

"What? Yes it is." Isabella frowns, looking down at the navy blue shirt with gold lettering. Her eyes widened when she realized that Ashley was right, and just below the school name, the graduation class was listed. 2007. Isabella graduated in 2011, and even then, she'd left this specific shirt back in LA on a whim.

"That's Lizzie's." Mary-Kate laughed, taking a sip of her wine as she stirred a pot of sauce on the stove. "She won't care, or notice. We're basically her dumping ground when she comes back to New York and doesn't have time to visit her own apartment."

"I can't believe you still haven't met." Ashley shakes her head, glaring at Isabella who flushes. They'd been trying to get her to come around to family dinners since her third month on the job, but she always declined the offer and used work as an excuse to flake.

"We have, actually." Isabella shrugged, taking a sip of her wine and sitting next to Ashley at the island, her feet hanging above the ground due to her petite stature. "At the Age of Ultron premiere."