Red Rain [Jason Todd]

.47

"Ooh, I like this one." Izzy grins as she pops some more popcorn into her mouth.

We were currently looking at the photos she took at the Halloween party a couple weeks ago. We're in fuzzy onesies, chilling on my bed back at my house.

"You sure you don't want me to pay for these, Izzy? It is your job—"

"As your best friend, yes. You love me, yes, I know, I know, my child. Yes, I know." She pets my head, and I laugh when I shoo her hand away from me.

I shake my head as I look down at the pictures, some in my embarrassing peppermint costume and others in the sexy one. Some were with only us girls, some with only me and Izzy, some with the entire group, and others with just me and Jason.

Those pictures...

The way we were so distracted by each other, how deep the kiss looked and how happy we looked when we smiled at the camera. And yet, still. That smile Jason put on for that camera was not the one I see nearly on a daily basis now. Or when I see him at least.

I don't know why I was so breath taken and heart struck by that smile. That one smile.

And I know it when I see it.

"What?" Izzy chuckles confusedly and I sigh a little, smiling small.

"Jason." I answer and she playfully nudges my shoulder with hers, smiling brightly, "And what about him?"

I know I'm about to sound corny, or all girly which I'm not, but I couldn't help but answer her in a breathy, dreamy way, "...his smile."

"Aww, Briellleee!" She sings childishly, shaking my shoulder and repeatedly nudging me.

"Shut up." I push her away from me with my forearm with an amused roll of my eyes.

She coughs down her laughter and exuberant behavior with a clear of her throat before smirking and slightly furrowing her perfectly arched eyebrows, "What about his smile? Don't you see it all the time?"

"Yeah, but the ones in the photos aren't the ones I'm thinking about. They're different." I explain and her brow arches, "Different?"

"Yes, different," I reply in a mocking way, starting to ramble unintentionally,  "The smile I'm thinking about is so...genuine, Izzy. And bright, and welcoming, and warm. It shakes my world, and I swear it just....makes me want to make him smile like that all the time. Make him happy."

"Aww. Someone's in l-o-v-e." She starts teasing me again and I roll my eyes.

"Stop. Izzy! I didn't say that!"

"Did you have to?" She questions with a knowing smirk before throwing more popcorn into her mouth.

I look back down at the pictures without a reply or comeback, already knowing the answer and knowing Izzy already knew it too.

"God, this year went by so fast. I can't believe it." I sigh exasperatedly, crawling off the bed and walking up to the box at the top of the shelf.

Grabbing it after reaching on my tip tippy toes, I return to my position on my bed beside Izzy and open it. I take out the pictures from months ago at the hotel and glimpse at them too.

Izzy was so fucking amazing at what she did, whether it was on her camera or on her plain cellphone. Not to mention her computer skills she helps Nightshade with; everything Izzy does, she's really damn good at it.

"So...how's this Roy and Kaiden drama been goin'?" I ask with a knowing smile as I pack the new Halloween photos into the box.

"Ughhh, Brielle, I hate you." She lays back, slamming her head onto the pillow as she looks up at the ceiling.