AN:

When the Summer ended, Isabella's family moved to Europe so her mother could study Culinary Arts in Italia. Now the kids are sixteen and she's been back for five months. Her relationship with Phineas has changed, but they still can't quite bring themselves to confess their feelings. Our story starts on the last day of junior year…

Title based off of David Archuleta's Crush.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. NOTHING, I TELL YOU!

Phineas' POV

The last day of school was always a drag (A whole day at school and we learn nothing! What sense did that make?) At least it was a half-day. That meant we had the other half of the day to spend at Isabella's pool. Her family had opted not to sell their house when they left for five years to Italy, since they assumed they would return. Luckily they did, and now Ferb and I ate dinner across the street as often as Mom would let us. I'd always had a thing for Italian food, but Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro's new cooking skills were something else. Something else that would be served at the party tonight, which made my afternoon plans all the more exciting.

I strode quickly to my last class, which was also my favorite: AP Physics C. I was going to miss this one next year. I had practically taught the class with Isabella, which Mr. Hardcastle was more than happy to let us do. Besides, I think Isabella got a couple Fireside Girl patches for it, so she wouldn't have let him object if he'd wanted to.

Despite my desire to get to class early, a few classmates stopped me in the hall to exchange yearbook signatures, and so I ended up walking in to door two seconds after the final bell rang. Isabella was at the teacher's desk taking attendance on the computer (I wasn't kidding when I said we taught the class.) She turned when she heard the door shut and beamed at me.

"Whatcha doin' late to class? I think I might have to mark you tardy," she teased.

I grinned back slyly, dropping my bag next to hers below the whiteboard, and leaned on the back of her chair. "Isn't there anything I could do to change your mind?" I asked innocently. I tucked a stray bit of her long, black hair back into place behind her ear and I could have sworn I felt her cheek warm under my hand. She had always been cute (dangerously cute, as we had discovered in our battle against Mitch) but during her time abroad she had become frighteningly beautiful, more woman than girl. I wasn't sure why, but I was glad the class wasn't paying any attention to us. I was suddenly quite grateful for the inherently distractible nature of teenagers in anticipation of impending freedom.

"Hmm, I'll let you know if I come up with anything." She turned back to the computer to finish attendance, the edges of her mouth still pulled up in a small smile.

I began passing around the donuts that Hardcastle had bought for the party and then Isabella helped me distribute sodas. Then we endured a Q and A session involving inquiries about our legendary plans for this summer, which was something that she hadn't experienced yet, although by that point I was well accustomed to it. I didn't understand why our classmates bothered asking, however, as we normally didn't decide on a day's activities until breakfast on the morning of.

When the final bell rang, Isabella and I walked to my car where Ferb was already waiting for us. The three of us had been driving to school together nearly every day since Isabella had moved back. I drove today, with her riding shotgun and Ferb in the back seat, manning the sound system that we had added over spring break. We pulled out of the parking lot blaring music from a program that was designed to play music that matched the crowd's mood. By the sound of things, they were thrilled to be done with the school year.

I dropped Ferb at home and went across the street with Isabella to help set up. The two of us had gotten pretty close since she moved back, and we practically lived in each other's houses by now. Most days I went straight from school to her house, and sometimes on the weekends she would stay over at my place so late that she wouldn't even bother to go home. I kept tools at her house in case I had a sudden idea that couldn't wait for the walk to my yard, and she in turn had essentially taken over Candace's room now that my sister was away at college. Ferb didn't mind that we hung out all the time, he said, because he spent most of his time video chatting with his girlfriend, Vanessa, who was at college with Candace.

Isabella and I dropped our school bags in the coat closet (where they would likely remain for at least a week or two) before heading to Isabella's room.

"You left this here the other day." She picked up a piece of orange fabric from her desk and tossed it to me. Much to my embarrassment, I caught my swim trunks.

"Oh. Um, thanks." I stammered, sitting on her bed, which had been upgraded to a queen-size since we were younger. She kicked off her sandals and went to her closet.

"Okay," she muttered. "Should I wear my bikini with the while polka-dots or the one that's solid pink?"

"I like the pink one best." I responded. I wondered absently what it said about our relationship that she was asking me for my opinion on her wardrobe.

"I do, too. Now leave so I can change." She took my hand and led me out the door.

I took my own suit with me and changed in the bathroom, stuffing my clothes in my bag before returning to her room. She sat at her vanity, long legs crossed, braiding her hair back. She smiled at me in the mirror and stood to face me.

"Do I look party worthy?" she asked, doing a spin to let me take in the whole view. She had wound a pink ribbon into the braid and added a small, blue wrap around her hips.

"Less fit for a party, more for a catwalk." I answered approvingly. She smiled and took my hand again, pulling me down the hall to the kitchen where we shuttled hors d'oeuvres from the kitchen to the patio. I then turned on the stereo that Ferb and I had rigged with our own personal radio station specifically for the occasion.

Normally Ferb and I threw the end-of-school extravaganza for all of our friends, but Isabella had requested that we let her take over this year. I quickly regretted handing over the party planning, as she had immediately declared that the bash would be invention-free, to celebrate that we could do whatever we wanted with our summer, even be normal. A small project for the music was the only thing I had been able to bargain for, which she very well knew would drive me to the edge of my sanity, but I let her have her way. I couldn't deny her anything she wanted.

Ferb soon came over, letting himself through the gate, and went inside to help Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro with dinner prep. We had about half an hour before the party guests were due, so Isabella decided to slip into the pool for the time being. She ditched her blue wrap on the deck chairs and swam a few laps while I sat at the pool's edge with my legs hanging in the water, staring at the horizon. The sun wouldn't go down for another two hours or so, but the sky was already turning different colors. I could tell it was going to be a fun night.

Suddenly, Isabella shot up out of the water in front of me and pulled in. I came up sputtering in shock while she swam away, laughing her head off. Grinning mischievously, I went back underwater, pushed violently off the wall, and popped back up right under her. She screamed with surprise and threw her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist to avoid being launched out of the water. Her scream quickly turned to more laughter, so I knew I wasn't in trouble. I twisted her around so she was cradled in my arms and waded across the pool to the stairs.

She rested her head on my shoulder as I forced my way through the water. "Did I ever tell you how much I missed you the last few years?"

I smiled down at her. "What, there no eccentric redheads where you were?"

She grimaced. "Well, there was one. But he was a different kind of eccentric, if you know what I mean."

"Oh. Stalker-eccentric?"

"Stalker-eccentric."

I laughed. "You know something?" I started softly. "My family went to London last summer to visit Dad's parents, and there must have been more than a dozen nights that I nearly went to see you. I don't know how I talked myself out of it. I think I convinced myself that you wouldn't want to see me."

"Phineas, why on Earth would I not have wanted to see you?"

"I don't know. I figured you were probably happy where you were and didn't need reminders of where you'd been."

She smiled warmly. "Trust me when I say that hardly a day went by that I didn't wish was here, working on some plan with you." There was a pause. She blinked. "A-and Ferb. Working on plans with you and Ferb."

I distantly heard the doorbell ring, which reminded me I was still carrying Isabella, even though we'd been standing at the edge of the stairs for some time. I set her but she kept my hand as we climbed out of the pool. Together, we went to greet the first party guests.