Snowflakes and Heartaches

"Let me go," Buford demanded as he pushed against his restraining girlfriend. In something that looked truly pitiful, Milly kept him down.

"There's nothing any of us can do," Milly told him. He continued to struggle despite this, but it was clear his heart was no longer in it.

"Why?" he asked when he settled down. "What does that bitch want that he doesn't have?"

"Only she knows," Ethan answered, he had entered without either of the others noticing. "And let's not insult her. If Baljeet fell for her, than she can't be a bitch."

"I don't agree, but fine," Buford grumbled.

"How could we have failed? I thought it was perfect," Milly asked them, though she didn't expect either of them to actually answer her.

"We emptied the busiest street in the city, placed golden lights in every building, set up a sound system that runs down the street as well as machines to create snow. If all that failed, I'm guessing nothing we could've done would've worked," Ethan explained, strangely calm. "So a toast," he told them, pulling out a bottle of whisky and three glasses. Buford propped himself up at the sight of the liquid. He poured some of the alcohol into each glass and passed one to the others.

"To MEBRIS's formerly perfect record," Milly said.

"To Baljeet and his new broken heart," Ethan grumbled.

"To whatever girl will eventually make him happy," Buford finished. They all raised their glasses before quickly draining them. "Aren't you going to go see Baljeet soon?" Buford asked the older man.

"I'll need to be a lot more drunk before I visit the guy I set up to have his heart broken," Ethan explained as he reached for the bottle again. "Wanna help?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Buford replied.

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Phineas looked to the house before him. He turned to his stepbrother for a reassuring nod before they both approached the front door. When Milly had contacted them about helping Baljeet confess to Adyson, he didn't know what to expect. After he heard them out and helped them set up, he was convinced the plan was foolproof. When he saw the rejection from his vantage point on the roof, he was just confused.

As he knocked on the door, he ran through all of the things he could say to him in his head. Phineas was worried that the last thing Baljeet wanted was a visit from his friends with girlfriends, but it was better to be there and not be wanted than to let him wallow in his depression.

"Hello," Baljeet greeted normally from the door. "Oh, Phineas and Ferb. Come on in," he said as he moved aside to allow his friends entrance.

"Hey," Phineas returned, more than a little thrown off. Ferb nodded his greeting. If he was feeling any surprise, he wasn't showing it.

"Let's head up to my room," the young Indian told them, still not revealing any of the sorrow they suspected he was harboring. On the way up to the room, Phineas was mentally prepping himself for the room of a stalker or a suicidal teenager. Again, the room was the same as it always was, albeit a bit messier, but nothing glaring.

"So, what's going on? You guys usually call before you visit," Baljeet said as he plopped down on his bed.

"We came to see how you were doing. We heard about, well, you know," he said, his voice showing he was in one his rare instances of being unsure.

"Oh, that," he said as if he was talking about some minor incident that occurred months ago. "You don't need to worry. I'm going to be fine," he explained with a wave of his hand.

"Baljeet, don't act strong," Ferb stated plainly, his concern showing through. "We're here to help." The brothers moved to the other boy's bed to be prepared for whatever followed.

"I'm not acting," he told them. "I can't lie, I was devastated when I got home. I sat on the roof and smoked maybe a full pack while I just thought."

"About what?" Phineas interrupted, his nervousness worsening. He remembered reading that this kind of calm in someone that would normally be distressed could be a sign of suicidal thoughts.

"Adyson, what I did wrong, Adyson, all the relationships around me, and Adyson," he answered. "When it got so cold I couldn't even light up anymore, I climbed into bed and slept. I woke up this morning and suddenly everything came to me." He paused after this, retreating into his own thoughts.

"What did you realize?" Phineas asked, his panic beginning to ease up.

"I like Adyson. She's kind, beautiful, strong, intelligent, hard-working, compassionate, and determined. Just because she doesn't feel the same way for me won't change any of that. Instead of fixating myself on the past, I'll do whatever I can to ensure her happiness. After all, if you expect something back for liking someone, how can you claim to really like them?" he finished.

"Wow," Phineas muttered. The Baljeet he knew before would have practically lost his will to live. Now, this level headed guy was approaching heartache with more resolve than most adults. Phineas than did what he was prepared to not do for hours. He smiled. "Let's go grab a bite to eat," he said as he threw his arm around the Indian boy's neck, "I could use a burger."

"Let's agree to not tell Milly," Baljeet replied, enjoying the red-head's friendship more than ever. He may be able to accept the scars on his heart, but that didn't change the fact that they still hurt like hell.

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"Addie," Christina said sadly as she rubbed her friend's back gently. The usually strong and determined girl was hugging her knees to her chest as tears continued to roll down her face. She gave a small sniffle as she tried again to suppress her tears. Christina was at loss of words and merely tried comforting the girl with her presence. She came earlier that day to see what happened yesterday. She found the Adyson still in her bed, the lights off, but not sleeping. She had relayed the story and promptly began to cry.

"Why?" she asked through her sniffles. "Why can't I want Cameron? Why does it have to be Baljeet?" she asked again. Christina was speechless as the sobs returned. While she didn't want to pressure her heartbroken friend, she couldn't even begin to understand what inspired her to reject the boy she cared so much for.

"Hey," a new voice greeted. Christina knew that Addie's mom was working extra hours this weekend, so she was confused for a moment. When the door was opened by a dark skinned hand, she knew it was Holly. What Christina didn't expect was to see Katie and Ginger silently file in behind her.

"What are you guys doing here," Adyson asked, doing her best to hold back her tears. The girls responded by sitting around her. Holly was at her other side while Katie and Ginger sat in front of her, form a semi-circle around her.

"We're here to see you," Holly answered, her tone completely lacking its usual bite.

"We heard what happened," Ginger told her. Katie nodded silently in agreement.

"You guys," Adyson mumbled as she looked at the four girls, one by one. Memories of all they had done together began flooding back into Adyson's mind. "Thanks," she sniffled, her tears slowing.

"Don't thank us for what we're required to do," Katie stated plainly.

"Still," she sighed, the tears finally stopping, though she was still sniffling. For a long while after, the girls did nothing in particular. They goofed around, made fun of each other, and gossiped as they always did. Ginger and Christina spent as much time as they could in physical contact, much to Katie's annoyance, but that was also just the norm. Despite the pain that Adyson was feeling right now, with all her friends at her side, she felt like maybe, just maybe, she could move past it.

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"Look at this one," Django said to Irving as he pointed to yet another work. Since both of their girlfriends were occupied today, they decided to go to the Danville art museum. While both Holly and Katie appreciated still art, they were never thrilled at the prospect of spending all day surrounded by it. Whenever the two friends were free, they made sure to spend time at the museum. Dajngo couldn't count the number of times he had been struck by inspiration while wandering these halls or the number of tricks Irving had picked up about photography while examining the images.

"Interesting," Irving muttered. "His use of spacing is excellent, though the color pallet is lacking. Everything is within a few shades of each other."

"I think that accents the way he uses light. It's subtle yet striking," Django commented. The friends had learned long ago that art was a personally subjective matter and, as such, debates were practically useless. "What about this one?" Django asked as he pointed at a rather large picture hanging on the wall.

"It looks like something Phineas would enjoy," Irving responded, his voice filled with the loneliness it always held when he remembered the others they used to hang out with.

"It does. Knowing him, he would actually try to build that," Django laughed. "He never cared how hard or impossible something seemed, he always tried to make what he wanted succeed."

"If it wasn't for Ferb, he might never have even brought himself to try," Irving said. "Still, Buford became a protector instead of a bully and a football star."

"It's all because of Milly. He'd be a worthless bum if it wasn't for her," Django told him. "Honestly, I can't believe she's always realizing her dreams and she's still in high school. It'll be years before I can support myself with art."

"Some people don't even think about how they'll support themselves. I'm pretty sure Isabella is certain Phineas and her will be married before they're twenty," Irving joked.

"Gretchen's probably in the same boat with Ferb. Only Buford and Milly have been together longer," Django commented. "Funny. We all got along so well. I wonder what happened to make us drift apart?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Irving answered.

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"What's bothering you?" Gretchen asked the dark haired girl sitting across from her in the library. They were trying to study, but Isabella's constant sighing was proving to be a rather obnoxious distraction.

"I'm just distracted," she told her back, brushing her off.

"Can you please provide me with information I don't already possess?" Gretchen requested, closing her notebook since she sensed that this wasn't going to be a short discussion.

"I'm just remembering when we were all together," she explained.

"What caused you to think about that?"

"I heard something interesting," Isabella started, though Gretchen didn't give her time to finish.

"That Baljeet told Adyson that he has feelings for her? Yes, I've heard the same thing," she informed her friend. "I'm more surprised that you weren't aware of his feelings for her."

"I guess I just didn't want to believe it," she sighed again.

"If those two began dating, it could serve as a catalyst that would reunite our fractured group," Gretchen explained. "Do you not want Baljeet to date her?"

"Of course I do. Baljeet is my friend. It's just…" she trailed off, again distracted by some far off thought. "I'm worried I'm the reason she rejected him."

"Could she believe that he still holds the same crush on you he did several years ago?"

"No, nothing like that," Isabella quickly answered. "I… don't think she's forgiven me."

"For what?" Gretchen asked, now intrigued. This was the first that she was hearing about a fight. Isabella paused for a moment before telling her story.

"You remember how Adyson and I were always butting heads when we were younger?" she asked, though she didn't need to hear the obvious 'yes' that was going to follow. "One day, one of us, I don't remember who, was in a bad mood. We started arguing, then we started yelling. It was escalating quickly, but we weren't going to back down and there was no one there to hold us back. Then I pushed her too far," she stopped in an attempt to keep the old emotions under control. "She said 'At least my parents didn't break up because of me.'"

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"You said what?" Holly asked in shock.

"I said 'At least my parents didn't break up because of me,'" she replied, her embarrassment and shame as clear as day on her face. The girls were all speechless as Adyson continued her tale. "She held back tears when she screamed 'It's better than being an accident like you.'"

"Then what?" Ginger asked, clutching to Christina even tighter than usual.

"We both cried and ran off. We couldn't bring ourselves to face each other after that," she told them.

"So, you're saying you refused Baljeet not because you don't have feelings for him, but because you were afraid it would make Isabella and, by extension, Phineas, Ferb, and Gretchen all stop being friends with him?" Holly summarized. Adyson gave a nod, still too ashamed of her past actions to speak. "That's bullshit."

"Holly, think of it from Adyson's point of view," Christina objected. "If being his girlfriend led to him being more miserable, it could ruin their relationship."

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"So you believe that you losing your temper and retorting to a verbal attack, Adyson can't forgive you?" Gretchen replied still absorbing all she had heard.

"Why would she? I pushed her too far and couldn't admit my mistake. It's been so long, she probably can't do anything but hate me," Isabella answered. "And I don't blame her."

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"I mean, what have I done to deserve her forgiveness?" Adyson concluded, her voice threatening to fall back into sobs. The girls around her were speechless. Each had their own opinion on the matter, but no one had the heart to voice it now.

"Guys, look," Christina said, pointing to the window. All the girls turned to see the first real snowflakes of winter gently falling. All of the girls abandoned their thoughts and moved to the window to get a better view of the scene. Everything was abandoned as they watched the natural beauty unfold before their eyes. Across Danville, everyone was stopping to gaze at what was so simple yet so beautiful. And among these masses were two people with mutual feelings that hoped with all their heart that one day, no matter how far away, they would be together.