Ferb longed to kiss her but he refrained from doing so. He glanced around the backyard. He found to his surprise that Buford had flushed a bright red and Baljeet was stammering something in Hindi. Isabella had her arms crossed and she was looking a little sad. He looked at the remaining three girls whom were idly chit-chatting while occasionally glancing in the direction of everyone in the backyard. He looked at Gretchen, who was nervously playing with the hem of her shirt.
"Is this something to do with the patch?" Ferb inquired.
"Not the one you're thinking of," Gretchen quietly replied, as she glanced over at Isabella and Phineas, then at Ginger and Baljeet.
"Enlighten me?" Ferb asked gently as he carefully tried to place one hand on top of hers and the other around her shoulders. Gretchen shook her head, then looked at their hands and blushed. "Well..." She said looking around the yard.
Phineas looked to the ground for a moment then back to Isabella's face. "Isabella, we're friends right?" He spoke seriously and quietly, for him. She nodded. "Yeah, friends." She replied unenthusiastically and turned her head away, she didn't see the pained expression cross his face.
"We're going out for ice cream! Who wants to come along?" Adyson called out. Ginger and Baljeet readily agreed, and the four of them headed toward the back gate.
"Just a minute!" Phineas called out. "Isabella." He said as he grabbed for her hand. "Can I buy you an ice cream?" The girl in the pink dress smiled slightly. "You don't have to. I can get my own." Phineas grabbed for her other hand and looked directly at her. "I want to."
Isabella blushed slightly. Phineas grinned manically. He pulled her out to the curb where the ice-cream truck was parked. Phineas looked at her, and smiled.
"So what flavour do you want?" Phineas inquired.
"Oh uh Strawberry," Isabella replied.
"One Strawberry and one Chocolate please," Phineas told the Ice Cream Man.
The Ice Cream man handed him the two ice creams. He handed the Strawberry one to Isabella. She noticed that a little chocolate had gotten on her ice cream. She started laughing. Phineas looked at her inquiringly.
"You got your ice cream on mine," Isabella giggled.
Adyson and Buford went for a walk down the street, Baljeet and Ginger walked in the opposite direction. Holly, Milly and Katie made their way toward the park.
Ferb and Gretchen were still sitting under the tree. "Did you want an ice cream?" He asked her, she shook her head. "No thank you." She replied and she looked into his eyes.
They moved a little closer to each other. Ferb wrapped his arms around her and she rested her head against his chest for a moment. He rested his head momentarily on top of hers then whispered. "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I think you're beautiful." Gretchen tilted her head to the side, ever so slightly and looked into his eyes with apprehension.
"Gretchen." Ferb whispered as he leaned closer to her. "May I?" He inquired. The smallest Fireside Girl nodded and her eyes slid closed as she received her first kiss.
"Well it looks like our ice cream flavours like each other," Phineas laughed as he and Isabella re-entered the backyard. Isabella grabbed his arm as she spotted Ferb and Gretchen in the middle of a kiss.
Phineas spotted them, and then, taking Isabella's hand, backed slowly out, He chuckled to himself.
"What?" Isabella asked.
"Ferb, you know, he actually admitted he liked her this morning and judging by her reaction she does as well right?" Phineas asked, for a brief moment showing clarity.
"Yeah, apparently for a few years now too," Isabella responded.
"Do you like anyone?" Phineas asked suddenly.
"As in a crush?" Isabella returned.
"Yeah," Phineas replied quickly.
Isabella pondered this question for a few minutes while she ate her ice cream. "There is one guy I've had a bit of a crush on." She said slowly as she looked and smiled at Phineas. "You? Anyone you've got a crush on?" She asked in return.
Phineas continued eating his ice cream as he carefully chose his words, something he's not used to doing. "I've had my eye on one girl in particular lately."
They ate their ice creams in an awkward silence for a few minutes, then started to engage in small talk.
As they both finished their ice creams Phineas started to open the gate again, he didn't see Ferb nor Gretchen in the back yard. "Care to sit with me under the tree?" He said to Isabella.
"Uh, Sure," Isabella replied, blushing slightly.
Phineas sat down under the tree and patted the spot next to him. Isabella hesitantly sat next to him. Phineas smiled broadly at her before staring into the twisting branches. Isabella watched him in wonder, so this is how he got all those ideas for the crazy inventions.
"She's one lucky girl to get your attention," Isabella finally commented.
"I'm just worried that she doesn't feel the same way," Phineas said quietly.
Isabella picked a few blades of grass. Phineas turned toward her again. "You had mentioned that you were working on a patch Ferb and I could help you with." He said enthusiastically. "What do you need? A remote-controlled..." He continued before she cut him off. "No Phineas, nothing like that." Both of their phones sounded simultaneously. "Excuse me a moment." The pair said to each other as they stood up and answered their phones.
After a few seconds they hung up and turned to face each other. Phineas was red in the face, it appeared as though he'd received a severe sunburn, his eyes were large and he started to stutter. "Th-th-that... F-F-F-Ferb..." Isabella wasn't doing much better. "Gretchen." She muttered.
"Ummm," Isabella finally managed.
"That was the most awkward phone call I have ever gotten from Ferb," Phineas admitted, his blush deepening as he realized how close he was to Isabella.
"Oh?" Isabella responded.
"So what'd Gretchen say?" Phineas asked.
"Umm," Isabella turned bright red.
Isabella looked between the ground and Phineas a couple of times. "She said..." Isabella wasn't given the opportunity to finish her thought.
Phineas finally processed what Ferb just said over the phone. What had transpired not long ago and his conversation with his brother earlier. He grabbed Isabella by the arm and spun her against himself, he then looked into her blue eyes and before he realized what he had done he was kissing her.
Isabella was caught off guard by being suddenly spun around, but when she realized that her long time crush was pressing his lips against hers she inwardly smiled.
The two were unaware of the two people watching them. The shorter one leaned against the taller one. She had a smile on her face.
"About time," Gretchen whispered to Ferb, whom just smiled and nodded. They left the two in the backyard.
"So anyone else trying for this patch?" Ferb inquired once they were out of earshot of Isabella and Phineas.
"Adyson, and Ginger for sure. Katie, Milly and Holly, they are up in the air about it," Gretchen replied quietly.
"So do you think Girly finally told Dinnerbell?" Buford asked Adyson gruffly.
"Isabella can be a bit stubborn on it. It drives us a little stir-crazy at times. It makes us wonder if Gretch is insane or a genius for hanging around Izzy all the time," Adyson replied with a shrug.
"Or insanely genius," Buford chuckled.
"Probably explains why they would strap her to me when ever we go mountain climbing," Adyson chuckled before Buford grabbed a hold of her hand to prevent her for getting knocked over by a large group of little girls. When she realized what he was doing, she flushed a bright red.
"Thanks Buford, that could have been disastrous." Adyson said. "No problem... I mean..." Buford looked at his hand holding Adyson's. "You could have been hurt, those girls were going pretty fast and they were all over the place."
"I should probably head back to the lodge now." Adyson said as she averted her eyes away from the bully. "I'll walk with you." Buford offered. "Just to make sure that you don't get hurt." He finished. Adyson smiled then replied. "If you feel it necessary, who am I to object?"
Ginger and Baljeet were walking and talking. He had calmed down somewhat, now he was able to get a complete thought out in English before breaking into Hindi again. "I had no idea you felt this way Ginger. I would have thought you to be interested in someone who is..." Ginger started to giggle. "Baljeet, I've had a crush on you for about as long as Gretchen's had a crush on... Oops. I shouldn't have said that."
This instantly got Baljeet's attention. For as long as he had been in the same classes as the brunette, the girl had never given any kind of indication that she liked anyone past 'just friends.' It wasn't uncommon for Baljeet and Gretchen to turn in their work days before the other kids.
"Gretchen has a crush on someone?" Baljeet managed to blurt out in English.
'Nice going Hirano, you nearly just reveal the number one thing that would embarrass the living heck out of Gretchen,' Ginger thought to herself. She spoke rather quickly that Baljeet could barely follow, " You really don't want to know."
Baljeet raised his eyebrows, "You stopped yourself before you said a name. Did you make a promise?"
"Yes, I said too much already," Ginger admitted.
Baljeet smiled. "You should not break a promise to a friend." He said as he looked fondly at Ginger. "I am sure that, whomever Gretchen has a crush on, is flattered." Ginger smiled back. "I hope so. Even though we Fireside Girls think of her as a 'know it all', she does deserve a nice guy." She said.
Milly was walking through the 'Art in the Park' exhibit when a familiar voice called out to her. "Milly! Hey Milly!" She turned around and saw Django Brown. She waved, smiled and walked over to him. "Afternoon, Django. Is this your latest? It's wonderful." She said as she looked at a painting of the pond at sunset.
"You really think so?" Django inquired glancing at it.
"Yeah, it's really nice," Milly answered nodding vigorously.
"I wish I could just enter some of my sketches, but I don't like people seeing those much," Django replied.
"Oh," Milly said quietly.
"I'll show you some of the stuff I've sketched," Django commented, not noting the change in Milly's expression.
Django pulled out a sketchbook out of a bag and flipped to a charcoal drawing of a group of girls, Troop 46231 to be exact. As he flipped through it Milly marvelled at the amount of detail he put into each drawing. Milly giggled at the one drawing that captured the Flynn-Fletcher boys so well. It was of them mid-action, Ferb unrolling a blueprint while Phineas gestured with his hands. Django flipped to one of a girl with poofy hair, and he quickly tried to change it when Milly placed her hand on his. Django went a bright red at her soft touch.
"Django? Is that -" Milly didn't even get to complete her question.
"Yeah it's you. I've been drawing you for a couple of years now," Django blurted out, his face became redder with each word.
Milly blinked a few times as Django's admittance sunk in. Django stood up to leave, he was worried that she didn't like him in that way. He stopped when he felt her hand slip into his. He looked at her and to his surprise, she also was a bright red and smiling.
"I never thought Artists showed their work to others before it was done," Milly said .
"Artists often show their muses their works in progress," Django replied automatically and then turned a brighter red when he realized what he had said.
Milly blushed at his words. "Django? I'd love to see more of your work, if you don't mind." He broke out in a wide grin. "Not at all." He grabbed her hand and they walked around his small section of the exhibit. I always keep my current sketchbook on me, but I've got a couple more over here... and a few canvases and other drawings that I didn't put into the exhibit.
As Milly was looking at a picture of what she knew to be the Flynn-Fletcher backyard devoid of everyone, Django discreetly pulled out his sketchbook and pencil and started working. It only took him a few minutes to finish the rough sketch of Milly sitting at a picnic table looking at a drawing of a tree. "You can have this one." He said as he sat down beside her and handed over the page. She turned and faced him. "Thank you." She whispered.
"Milly?" Django asked as he reached for her hand. "Would you like to see the rest of the 'Art in the Park' with me?" She nodded her head. "I'd love to see it with you."