𝗗𝗜𝗚𝗜𝗧𝗔𝗟 𝗦𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘

A Hole in the Earth

Isabell refuses to speak to James for hours afterwards.

She comes back around six in the morning, slamming the window shut and curling up into the crook of the couch, and it takes coaxing, pandering and outright shameless bribery for James to get her out of the house.

He promises her that he won't push, that he and Sam won't fight over stupid things and it'll be over quickly. More than anything, James promises that he'll be nice to her.

Isabell's eyes narrow.

She tugs a contradictorily adorable hat over her head and darts off to the car before he can say anything else.

She doesn't talk for the entire car ride, not even when Sam gets in, and the second they stop for gas, she is out of the door in a flash and disappearing off to the convenience store.

James stares as a flash of dark hair vanishes around the corner.

"When I was gone," He says slowly, "Was she always like this?"

Sam shrugs. "Mostly. When she was in a good mood."

"What do her bad moods look like?"

"Nothing pretty."

James' stomach clenches. He slips past Sam and follows Isabell into the store, trying to be as subtle as possible as he watches her traipse through the aisles. She picks up various boxes, puts them down again, then grabs a can of soda from the cooler and flirts effortlessly with the girl over the counter while she pays for it.

James' eyebrows shoot up.

Why is she capable of behaving like a nice, normal human being with everyone but him? When is she going to forgive him?

What the hell is wrong with her?

James is across the room in three long strides, shaking her shoulder and trying his hardest not to glare at her. Isabell doesn't seem to have that sort of restraint.

"What?"

"We're going." He stares at her drink. "Aren't you hungry?"

"No." Isabell takes the change from the girl at the till, flashing her a charming smile before scowling again as she turns back to James. "Leave me alone."

She takes the soda, slips past him and stalks out of the door without another word.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Isabell doesn't always want to be awful. Sometimes, it just happens.

She considers this as James pulls the car into park, chewing on the hems of her sleeves to ensure that they won't slip up. That is what she tells herself, anyway.

It would be pathetically childish if she admitted that she did it for comfort.

She wraps her jacket tight around her, nudging the door open with one tattered boot and clambering out of it. James hovers nervously beside her.

It's hot outside today, too hot for the way she's dressing, but Isabell is tired, shivering all over. She spent hours last night clambering across rooftops, trying to keep her mind off of everything and anything that could possibly cross it.

It didn't work, really. In the end, she came crawling right back, settling herself into the warmth of the dark to watch James sleep. He moves a lot, she finds, but he's calming. Isabell thinks of the days when he used to sleep on the floor so that she could have whatever came closest to the bed. She'd wake up early, curl up beside him and read until the light came in.