This is the third chapter of Laplace Experiment.

I am actually truly excited to introduce you to this one, because this is... where the magic slowly happens.

However, I've got to warn you:
-use of alcohol
-they get a little close. A LITTLE. A little. A LITTLE LITTLE LITTLE.

Don't read past this if you're not ready for a slight change.

Besides, I do know teens don't drink alcohol under 21 in America, but I'm actually so used to gents & lads drinking after turning 16 ( blame it on my German origin ) that I've totally forgotten that fact.
I AM SO SORRY about that. I know that's not realistic at all and stuff, but... whatever. Can't change it now. They're true gangsters now.

Isabella had changed.
Ferb knew that.
She became more and more outspoken, left her naïve kind behind. But not entirely.
She had grown. Her silhouette became more feminine – so did her curves. But that didn't matter.
It had been rather interesting watching him changing as well.
Often people cut him short when he commenced speaking. Afterwards he didn't feel like talking anymore.
Now he had been forced to interrupt someone in order to chime in, otherwise he'd never be able to talk. Because, that's the operative point, he was asked to give his opinion.
In fact, Ferb never minded raising his voice rarely ( because talking is hard and takes too much effort ), but it was nice knowing that someone valued his words and needed them.

Ferb had grown up quickly.
Or, rather, had he ever been a child?

After all he just had gotten into his first relationship ( with that "weird gothic girl", well, that's just how people called her, ignoring the fact she had been a punk, not a goth. ) and it took rather a chaotic and passionate course. He didn't even need to talk about details, because they had been already visible on his neck. His shirt couldn't hide everything.

He knew Isabella saw them. He also knew she had been interested in them.

One day he stroked over his neck in a pretty obvious way as Isabella took a glance at him. She knew these spots were quite old. No newcomers.
They broke up.
The girl blinked twice. She just wanted to open her mouth in order to say something, but Ferb had already taken the chance.

"Haematoma", he said, as the younger one reached out for her water bottle.
There was always one standing right next to his bed, because he had been too lazy to walk downstairs when he had gotten thirsty in the middle of the night.
If the water had run out, he sometimes decided to visit his dearest brother next door… in order to borrow his bottle.
Oddly, there were now two of them next to Ferb's bed.
Isabella always smirked when she caught a glimpse of them.

"I… know?", the little one replied. Her voice sounded rather asking than declaratory.
"Are you interested in how they emerge?"

Isabella blushed.
Ferb grabbed his laptop, placed it on his lap and got closer to the girl next to him.
He wasn't serious, was he?
He wasn't going to-

She could feel his breath. She could feel his thigh close to hers. And, apart from this, she could feel that she was going to have a nervous breakdown in no time.
He'd never do things like that. Was he now going to place his lips on her…

"It's explained on Wikipedia in detail. Here you go."

He placed the notebook promptly on her lap.
The black haired girl blinked confusedly as Ferb bowed over her shoulder a little, only to get to see the laptop's screen. Immediately afterwards complementary explanations followed on the topic "love bites". Frankly, Isabella didn't listen, because in her head were thousand scenarios going on, how her best friend was going to kiss her neck.
Suddenly she raised an eyebrow, tilted her head to the side. Her friend stopped talking, asked her whether she couldn't understand something. Quickly she shook her head, claiming she got everything… even if she hadn't been listening from the start.

Only imagining this had been too weird. Ferb and her? In a relationship? Doing such things?
Never.

The girl handed the laptop over after the taller one had finally finished his explanation.
Right after Isabella had calmed down a little, she felt something furry on her lap.
"There you are, Perry!", she said, followed by a soft giggle.
She could've sworn Ferb had been smiling briefly as she placed her hands on the platypus to stroke him.

By now she had become a special part of the family.
Last year she had celebrated Christmas with the Flynn-Fletchers, because she wasn't celebrating it at home. After all, she had been not only Mexican, but also Jewish.
Furthermore she stayed often until late at night. Once it had been four am in the morning as she crossed the street to get home.
And Ferb always kept an eye on her, waiting for her arrive home safely, so that nothing was going to happen during her five seconds walk home.

Not to mention this one evening.

Isabella hadn't slept the night before. Well, actually, nobody slept on Isabella's seventeenth birthday.
They had rather tested their limits – again.
Yes, they had changed. Innocent children became teenager which had started rebelling in their own ways. Outdrinking everyone else had been a part of this rebellion.
On account of Isabella's Mexican origin she had been incredibly steadfast, while the brothers surrounding her had been truly primed.
Even after having the third glass filled with tequila she kept on smiling happily – and the brothers slowly gave in.
Well, maybe it was important to mention that they've already had some wine before. In three they sat on the couch, giggled and enjoyed the absence of the brothers' parents. Ah – and their sister. She had been with Jeremy.

The problem wasn't the fact that Isabella had been incredibly squiffy as well in the end, no, it had been rather disadvantageous that she couldn't remember anything of the things that were said and done that evening.

She would never know Phineas had actually kissed her forehead.

She would never find out Ferb had actually gave her a huge hickey on the left scapula. ( She might've not known it – but her entire sport team knew. They saw it while she was changing. )

She'd never learn that a platypus had been responsible for the wine she had received for her birthday.

However, truly unforgettable had been the morning after.

She was lying in Ferb's bed. Not undressed, but it had been weird anyways.

It smelled like him everywhere. The sheets, the pillow, everything. It had been relaxing, but also… different.
Phineas smelled totally different than Ferb. One couldn't explain it. The elder one just smelled…like.. green. And his stepbrother like red? No, it stayed like that – she couldn't describe it.

Isabella rubbed her sleeves as she got up. To her feet laid her best friends and slept placidly.

She'd never know how Phineas and Ferb had struggled a whole hour long to get her upstairs without hurting her. And how Ferb stayed next to her until the early morning to cover her with a blanket and open the window.

Maybe the drunkenness had been a reason why Isabella got closer to the young Fletcher subliminally from time to time.
Somehow… she had been always pretty drunk when she wrapped her arms around Ferb or placed her head on his shoulders.

But, somewhere deep in her mind, somewhere deep in her heart, she still could feel the trust and affection emerging towards her best friend.
Deep down in her chest something had started to change. But she couldn't grasp it yet.