Chap 11 Not a Clue

As Phineas, Tom and Jennifer walked up the trail from the lake, he moved his right arm around carefully. Though the pain had never disappeared, his shoulder had been hurting him less over the past few days. Unfortunately, now it was aching quite a bit. He knew he shouldn't have gone sailing, but he had missed out on so much, and when would he get to sail again, just for fun? He could understand Jeffrey's frustration about missing out on things when he was sick. He sighed and decided he would just have to keep resting his shoulder until it had completely healed.

They rounded a bend in the path and saw the stable and the pub. Jeffrey was sitting on the steps of the pub, leaning against the wooden uprights of the railing. Stan was reclining in a chair on the large wrap-around porch, along with several of the female voyagers. Jennifer and Tom stopped walking as Phineas approached Jeff. "What happened?" he asked as Jeff looked up. The kid looked terrible, and it was all Phineas could do to keep from putting his arms around him. He held back because he knew Jeff wouldn't like him to do that in front of all these people. As he got closer to 13, he had become more self-conscious about public displays like that.

"I got tired so we came back early. I'm taking the next shuttle back to our room."

Phineas nodded, "okay," then he walked over to Jennifer and took her hand, "guess I'm gonna have to take a rain check on lunch."

"You ARE kidding, right?" she asked in disbelief.

Phineas shook his head, "I'm really sorry Jennif..."

"No Phineas! He's the only one who should be saying he's sorry." Her voice got louder as she continued, "he made a fool of you, you know that don't you?"

"Aw Jennifer, we were getting along so well..."

"Don't 'Aw Jennifer' me Phineas. He totally ignored you and this is what happened, so send him back to the lodge and I'll help you keep your mind off of him." As she said the last part, her voice got softer and she took off the overshirt she'd worn near the lake, revealing her bare shoulders.

Phineas sighed longingly.

"I can go back alone Bogg, I'm just a little tired," Jeff said, and as the shuttle pulled into the driveway he stood up and started walking towards the drop off point.

Phineas put out his hand and touched Jeff's shoulder, blocking his retreat, "don't move," he ordered, then turned back to Jennifer and stared at her.

"Make a choice Phineas, him or me," she said quietly.

"Don't do this Jennifer," Bogg said.

"Him or me," she repeated quietly.

Jeff hung his head, Bogg would be a fool to choose him over this gorgeous woman after the way he'd treated him, especially since he wasn't even sick any more, just tired. "Really, I'm fine," he repeated.

"I choose him," Bogg said.

Jeff looked up in surprise and suddenly realized there was a small crowd around them. He saw Tom's reaction to Bogg's comment. He looked confused, his expression was hard to read, and Jeff felt embarrassed that everyone had to hear this argument.

"I don't believe this!" Jennifer shrieked.

"Jennifer, I thought you understood about Jeff and me," Phineas answered in an even voice.

"Understood what?" she asked angrily.

"We're a package deal, and there's no way I'm gonna let anyone tell me what to do with Jeff." He paused, "I have no choice."

"You have a choice, just like he did. He chose to do and say everything he did."

"So what?" Phineas said angrily and they glared at each other until Jennifer turned and walked toward the pub entrance.

The sounds of the crowd died down as Bogg turned his attention back to Jeff. "Come on," he said and together they started toward the bus as the assembled group of voyagers began to disperse. They had attracted quite a crowd.

"I'm sorry for everything I said," Jeff said as they walked. He felt terrible for ruining Bogg's lunch with Jennifer.

"We'll talk when I figure out how I feel about all this," Phineas said as they climbed aboard the bus. After they took their seats, a dozen passengers seemed to invade the interior of the vehicle. Olivia was the last one to climb on and then the bus started the half-hour trip back to the lodge.

Olivia took a seat on the other side of the bus, facing them. She had watched the confrontation between Phineas and Jennifer with interest. She wasn't surprised by Bogg's reaction; she had first hand experience with Phineas and Jeffrey and knew how devoted he was to the kid. She smiled as she looked around. Phineas Bogg had no concept of the effect he was having on every female voyager at the reunion. She shook her head, amazed that every man at the reunion could be so clueless about something that was so obvious to every woman. She was certain that Bogg even thought having Jeffrey with him made him less attractive to women. But the truth was that regardless of age, the women here were very attracted to him because of the care and consideration he showed to Jeff. Add to that his good looks, and Olivia was sure that he could have any woman he wanted, he just didn't know it. In a strange kind of way, that made him even more appealing.

They sat side by side and Jeff's head rested against Phineas' upper arm as they bounced along the road. When the bus rocked sideways as it traversed a deep rut, Phineas reached his other arm around to protect Jeff from being pitched forward. Olivia scanned the crowd and was surprised to find Tom staring at them, taking it all in. She wondered what was going through his mind and decided he was probably trying to think of a way to kid Bogg about it later. Undoubtedly Phineas would take some good-natured ribbing about the missed lunch with Jennifer, too.

Finally the bus ground to a halt and they got out. It didn't take them long to get back to their room and Jeff immediately lay down on the bed.

"Did you eat on the trail?"

"No," Jeff answered, and Phineas glanced at the clock. It was 2 pm, no wonder he was starving.

"I'm gonna go have lunch, I'll bring you back something," he said and left the room.