(Author's Note)
Not much to say except that my holidays start on Friday but I have a college event that I want to attend to badly. I hope you like this chapter and I'm looking forward to continuing this story. I might post more often so stay tuned.
Chapter 10 "Just Promise Me Something"
Danville Airport. Not the most exciting place ever made on earth and neither is it a landmark of anything exciting. For some people it's a place of joy where you rendezvous with precious people to you… but to most, including Phineas, It would be the gate that crosses over a boundary to an area that would be difficult to reach. To explain it non-poetically, it's a place where you get to say your last goodbyes before they cross over to a place very far that your only way of contact would be through megabytes and keyboards.
Linda and Lawrence are confronting Vivian for their last goodbyes. Lawrence was able to give a hug and a bit of friendly words. Lawrence just stood by to leave Vivian and Linda to talk alone.
"Vivian." said Linda endearingly. "We are really going to miss you."
"*Sob* Si! *Sob*. It is such a touching goodbye Linda." Vivian continued sobbing.
"There there Viv. Shhhhh." Linda hugged her and patted her in the back repeatedly to comfort her. "We can always contact each other through the internet. You could give us a video call anytime. And if ever you'll miss playing contrabass with us we can just do a satellite link and we'll play along with Mrs. Johnson of course."
"Si! I would like that very much." said Vivian as she let go of Linda.
Vivian checks over her daughter who is currently hugging Candace and the other 2 boys waiting for their turn.
"You know, after all this time, I'm really going to miss you miss sassy fireside girl. You're like a little sister to me now, whom I never had and I wish I had one but instead I got stuck with 2 brothers that drive my life crazy."
"Hey! We did a pretty good job driving your life crazy." excused Phineas.
"Can it Phineas! It's not your turn yet."
The 4 shared a moment of laughter.
"Thanks Candace. You were like a big sister to me too. Thanks for being such a good friend and a person to lean towards to whenever I would need personal advice."
"Aww. Come here." Candace gives another hug to Isabella.
"I'll miss you too Candace." said Isabella gently.
She lets go of Candace and now turns to Ferb who also gives her a tender hug.
"You know you might not talk very much but you have been a very good friend, especially at times when I need some time with, you know." She nudges her head towards Phineas and they, Isabella and Ferb, both chuckle a bit. "Would you mind if you spoke to me for the last time?"
"All I can say is happy landings and make yourself at home, in your new home that is." said Ferb.
"Hehe! Thanks Ferb." she gives another hug.
She turns to Phineas and suddenly she gets confused on how to say this. She doesn't want to go but she also doesn't want to give up her dream. If only she could choose both her life would've been easier. Strands of hair fall to her left eye and Phineas brings the strands of hair to the back of her ear with his right hand. Isabella notices this and takes it as a sign of affection by returning it with an endearing smile.
"So I guess, this is it huh." said Phineas.
"Yeah." she said halfheartedly. "I guess it's about time we grew up huh."
"Yeah. By the next time you see me I'll have an even bigger nose."
She giggles. "And by the next time you see me I'll be having curves."
He smiles at the thought. "And by the next time you see me I'll be even taller than you."
She giggles. "And by the next time you see me you might even ask me out."
"Pfft! You wish."
"You did it yesterday. What makes you think you wouldn't do it again?"
They share a moment of chuckles as they remembered the good days that have passed them. At the end of their chuckle Isabella starts sobbing and grabs Phineas in a big hug. Phineas was surprised but immediately returns it with a big hug from him as well.
"I'll miss you." whispered Isabella.
"I'll miss you too." he whispered back as he tightened his hug.
It was about a minute of warmth shared by each other's arms, a warmth that would be longed by each other. They let go of themselves, slowly and trying their best to preserve that warmth within them.
"For some reason, I wish we could stay like this. I wouldn't want you to change when one day you get back to Danville."
She stretches one end of her lip. "Phineas… it's about time we already grew up."
He sniffed. "But if it meant not seeing you again, then I wish I'd never grow up."
She smiled endearingly. "Alright. I promise I won't change. But you have to promise me something."
He smiled back. "Anything. Just name it."
She brings her right thumb to Phineas's left end of his lip and presses it forward, making him stretch it. She rotates her right wrist and does the same to the other end. Phineas keeps an eye on her thumb every time she does that.
"Never forget that. Never forget to smile. Okay?"
"*Sniff*. Okay."
She holds out her right pinky. "Promise?"
He intertwines it with his right pinky. "I promise."
They give each other one last tender hug.
"Flight number 394 is now ready for boarding. All passengers…"
Isabella looked back as the announcer's voice called their flight number. She notices her mom give a nod, meaning that it was time to go. She turns to Phineas and they take a moment to breathe and say their final words. Isabella swings their intertwined pinkies.
"I guess this is it." she said.
"Yeah." said Phineas sadly.
She tightens the grip of her pinky and looks at Phineas's eyes for the last time.
"Bye." whispered Phineas.
She sniffs and holds back a tear. "Bye."
Her pinky slips away from Phineas's leaving his spine to chill a bit. He watches her hug her mom as she walked towards her. It was sad really, but he knows that he has to be strong. If ever it was to fulfill Isabella's dreams I guess he would've done it. I mean, an entire day dedicated to Isabella for patch collecting was evidence enough right?
Isabella hands her ticket to the gate attendant and Vivian offers hers afterwards. She gave one step towards the bridge but she stopped herself from going any further. She hasn't even crossed the gate yet. She holds back a tear and sheds away one that wasn't held back. She looks back at the Flynn-Fletcher family who is watching their closest family friends leave. She looks at Phineas, who also catches her watching him. Phineas closes his eyes for a moment, takes a deep breath, and smiles as he gave one final look at his best friend. Isabella smiles too and giggles a bit because she saw that he's trying to keep his promise. Vivian holds Isabella's hand and they walk towards the bridge together.
"C'mon Phineas" said Candace softly as she patted his shoulder.
The rest of the day was gloomier than usual and surprisingly it's not because the first day of school starts tomorrow. Either it would be the 1st day of school or the 1st day of summer he would've remained positive that it would be a great day since they finally have a tale to tell and they could record in their memories the priceless reactions of their friends and teachers about their golden days in the season of beating heat.
Now…. It was different. If only Phineas's stepbrother didn't motivate him then he wouldn't have done anything lately. They decided to just throw a party since it's the last day of summer. What I meant by different is that it wasn't as much fun as it was before. For once, Phineas willingly prepared something simple for his friends without the interruption of any abrupt firings of any inators.
Sadly the atmosphere of the party wasn't as jolly as before. His friends were trying to move on about the fact that Isabella has already left the neighborhood but Phineas on the other hand was taking this rather seriously. His friends were able to cheer him up by hanging out with him and playing some of their favorite games but unfortunately his latest cheerful self was only an act.
The backyard was cleaned up, except for a few streamers and decorations, and Phineas just sat on a familiar branch while watching the moonlight starting to illuminate the twilight sky. It was almost a day-sha-vhoo moment for Phineas if it wasn't for the gloomy atmosphere that shrouded him. The chilly wind rides to his hands causing Phineas to shiver a bit and he puts both his hands in his pockets with no avail in his left hand since he touched something…. Hard…. And cold….. and metal.
He took it out and he gasped in awe as he beholds ARChie in his hands. He searches with his fingers the sides of ARChie and presses a button that he was looking for. ARChie happily activates his propeller and flies in the air. A blink of light appears from ARChie and the light stretches to reveal a hologram of their last moments together.
ARChie revealed some stolen pictures about the day they stood on that rooftop. He revealed Phineas nibbling on Isabella's ear and Isabella leaning away while looking at him with an arched brow. Another shot revealed that they were licking the ice cream on their hands. The next shot revealed that they were standing close to each other while watching the sunset. He was surprised when the next shot revealed the peck on his nose. He giggled a bit at his own priceless reaction. He whistled for ARChie to come down to his palm. He has had enough of yearning for one day.
He did miss her… a lot. It's funny that less than a day of missing someone is already quite miserable. He looked at the moon once more and thought about Isabella looking at the opposite side of the moon.
"HEY! ISABELLA!" He called to the moon. "I KNOW YOU CAN'T HEAR ME BUT….. I WANTED TO SAY… THANK YOU! THANKS FOR BEING MY BESTEST FRIEND! AND THANKS FOR GIVING ME A GREAT SUMMER! DON'T EVER CHANGE! OKAY?"
He paused for a while, as if he was waiting for a reply.
"Phineas! Come down the tree! It's dinner time!" called Linda.
"Coming!" he called back.
He looked at ARChie and thought about the different pictures that ARChie stole. It wasn't the last picture that he has seen and he wishes that there was more than what was in store. He sighed and climbed down the tree to the soft grass of his backyard.
"Thanks Isabella." he whispered to himself. "I hope to see you again."
He held his head up high and dashed to the backyard door for his dinner.
-End of Chapter 10-
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