The romantic dinner between Manuel and Rosalinda was about to begin. Isabella and Phineas rushed out of their guest room just in time to get all the finishing touches and setup down. Manuel soon walked in, Rosalinda's hand wrapped around his arm. Phineas led them to a candlelit table. The couple was in awe at the ambiance of the place. Phineas had acquired more skill since he was 10 in choosing music fit for the occasion, and the result was truly romantic violin music. Isabella took their order, Phineas cooked the meals, and the food was served.

The host and hostess just looked on as the magic happened. Manuel and Rosalinda were soon entranced with each other, talking about anything and everything, laughing, joking, flirting, and eventually, a kiss. Since they were constrained by the round table, it was a simple kiss on Rosalinda's hand, but nonetheless a kiss. Their important night stretched into the hours.

Soon, Phineas and Isabella grew bored. With the restaurant having limited access (only to the Manuel and his date), there was nobody else to serve in the meantime. Phineas, seeing the opportunity, asked Isabella a question.

"Say, are you hungry?"

"Yes, a little bit. I haven't eaten since that time I snapped at Manuel."

Phineas scratched behind his ear, internally nervous. "Izzy, would you like to have a dinner with me?"

Isabella's eyes widened instantly, and she blushed a little. "Yes, yes I would." She was internally squealing in glee.

Phineas asked Isabella what she wanted for dinner. She ordered a spaghetti dinner for the two of them. He smiled and got to work in the kitchen. Before long, they were both sitting at a candlelit table, roses spread on the tablecloth, with a single plate of spaghetti before them. They ate at the meal in pieces while they talked and laughed and joked. Manuel and Rosalinda, previously enchanted with one another, now turned their attention to the younger couple sitting across from them. They grinned, exchanging knowing looks.

When the spaghetti was almost finished, Phineas asked Isabella what she thought about everything. In pure ecstasy, she replied, "It's been wonderful!"

He grinned, "Well, you're going to love this." He clapped twice, cuing in a tall guy with a top hat. It was a magician.

"Oh my God, I love magicians! How did you know, Phin?"

"What can I say? I know you too well" was his reply. Isabella giggled, blushing slightly.

The magician then performed wonders that only he knew how to do. He did the usual bunny-out-of-hat routine, the endless handkerchief routine, goofy card tricks, and other wonders. Isabella and Phineas were very entertained, and they clapped and cheered profusely when the show ended. The magician's finishing act consisted of pulling doves out of his hat. Just when they thought that the show had ended though, the magician reached behind Phineas' ear and pulled a rose out of thin air. It was fresh and ruby red. He handed it to Phineas with a wink, as he bowed to the couple and left.

Phineas knew what he had to do. He gave the rose to Isabella. She blushed and took it, and held on to it as if her life depended on it. Her eyes were bright with the excitement. Phineas noticed. He asked, "Whatcha thinking?"

Isabella smiled. "I'm just very happy to have this dinner with you. I've always enjoyed acting all grown up and dining like this, in a formal, romantic setting. Who better else to enjoy it than with the guy that I lov...call my best friend."

Phineas hadn't caught the slip up, he just chuckled and replied, "Yes, I've always been the same way. Whenever I would go out to eat at restaurants like this with my family, I enjoyed dressing up and acting all formal and grown up. It's different, a good different." He gave a toothy grin, "I'm happy that I'm getting a chance to do this sort of thing with you. Although I'm not exactly in the best outfit right now. I'm in my usual garb. Doesn't exactly scream fancy, if you ask me."

"Oh stop it, Phin." She reached across and placed her hand on his forearm. "You look handsome to me no matter what you wear."

This made Phineas grin a little wider, and his face got a little redder. "Thanks Izzy, I think the same. I think that I look handsome no matter what I wear." He noticed Isabella's smile faltered for a second. "I'm just kidding. Seriously, I think that you look beautiful no matter what you wear."

"Ugh, you weren't awake this morning to see how I look when I wake up. My hair is all poofy and frizzy. It's not exactly cute."

Phineas' reply surprised even Isabella, "It doesn't matter. Even then, you would still be the cutest person in the whole wide world."

Her heart practically melted in her chest. Phineas must have felt it through her hand, still resting on his forearm. He placed his other hand on top of hers, and squeezed it lightly. She looked at him endearingly, he winked while saying, "And right now, you're the most gorgeous girl I've ever seen."

When Manuel and Rosalinda called it a night, they thanked Phineas and Isabella. Phineas couldn't help noticing that they looked genuinely happy together. He thought to himself, Do I know romance or what?

Manuel ended up walking Rosalinda home. Phineas and Isabella were happy for the new couple, but most of all happy for the leaps in their friendship they had made that night (although they wouldn't let that on to each other). Phineas had installed a mechanism into the restaurant that packed it up into a cute little gift box with a dainty pink bow. He gave the little box to Isabella.

Soon, Manuel came back, and his parents arrived home soon after. Apparently they had gone across the border to visit Isabella's grandmother, and got held up on the line waiting to get back into the United States. Nonetheless, it was already past ten, and the teens were exhausted from the day they just had, especially Phineas. They changed into their sleepwear, and went to bed.

Phineas lay idle in bed staring at the ceiling. He was spaced out, but subconsciously interested in how the light played with the popcorn ceiling, making weird mini-shadows. Isabella looked at him from across the room with wonder. How could somebody that makes the coolest things in the world be so interested in the ceiling?

"Whatcha' thinking?"

Phineas smiled and turned towards her. "Just wondering how light plays with all the jagged angles and random shapes of the popcorn ceiling."

"And I thought Baljeet was bad enough."

He gave her a smirk and continued. "Nothing really, I'm glad that I'm successful for once with creating romance. It more or less failed that time I did the boat romance thing for Baljeet and that Indian girl he grew up with."

Isabella thought about the event from her experience. Phineas had made a whole hype about a romantic dinner for two, only to find out that it wasn't meant for her. "Yeah, it failed miserably." She said it in more than one way.

"But the good thing is that it worked for Manuel." He fidgeted in his bed and scratched behind his ear. "So what did you think of our dinner tonight?"

Isabella brightened up in an instant. "Oh, it was marvelous Phineas. I'll never forget it."

He smiled at her with a vibrant gleam in his eyes. Isabella noticed it; he looked very happy and confident, almost as if he were mesmerized. He replied, "I'm glad that I can make you happy. That's what I live for everyday."

She giggled. "Thanks Phin, I appreciate it more than you know."

He chuckled. "Well Izzy, I think its getting kind of late. I'm exhausted, especially from that heat exhaustion thing that I went though. Time to call it a night, don't you think?"

"Yeah, you're right. Let's get to sleep."

Phineas got up and walked over to Isabella's bed. As he gave her a goodnight hug, he whispered in her ear, "Thanks for making me happy everyday Izzy. I don't know what I'd do with myself without you."

Isabella blushed, and agreed. "Yeah, I don't know what I'd do without you either. You're irreplaceable."

He walked back to his bed, got in and beamed at Isabella. "Goodnight, Izzy."

"Goodnight Phin."

The lamp turned off, and they fell asleep almost immediately.

I'm only updating up to here today. Tomorrow I'm going to update another two chapters, instead of the usual three. The idea is to create lots of suspense for what is going to happen next in the story. Brace yourselves, it's going to get really interesting. Until then, happy reviewing :)