On instinct, Isabelle wanted to flinch away from the touch, to pull back and look anywhere else but at Ellie. She didn't, though. It was tough, but she didn't.
"I think because I needed to," she said with a shrug. There was so much more she wanted to say, to spill out how hard it had been for her, to ramble on and on until she felt emptied of the poisonous secrets, start from the beginning and purge it all.