The next day…

"Soo…how bad is it?"

"See for yourself." Ferb motioned to the backyard, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched the red head. "Replicated it this morning; he's been batting ever since."

"Does Perry know he replicated it?" The other teen nodded. "This is all my fault, isn't it?"

"Your fault?" Ferb turned to her, raising a brow. "How is this your fault?"

Isabella sighed. "When we played pool last night, I decided to try flirting with him. Soo…I pretended I didn't know how to make a proper bridge so he had to come over and show me." She blushed. "He came up behind me and moved my fingers into the correct position on the cue. We were nose to nose…he smiled at me…I figured, hey, that was something. So I bumped his cue from behind…he overreacted, I teased him about being moody and…that lead into an awkward conversation."

He nodded, motioning for her to continue.

"I realized I may have gone to far with the flirting, so I lead him over to a booth and we sat down. He asked me if I'd ever felt funny toward someone."

Ferb smiled.

"I said I had, he asked what it felt like, I described the butterflies, he asked why he might feel funny and I said that maybe there was something about the person he liked, or maybe he liked everything about them…and then, without really thinking about it, I took his hand in mine and asked if he felt that way about someone. He squeezed my hand and said he did, but when I started to ask him if it was me, he got up from the table and left."

She covered her face with her hands. "Oh my gosh. Ferb, I-I broke him! I broke Phineas! I-I went to far! I should have just answered his questions and left my feelings for him out of the equation." She groaned. "I'm so stupid!"

Ferb reached over, removing her hands from her face. "You did nothing wrong; my brother can't handle strong emotions; we both know that. Was it maybe a mistake? Possibly. But, as you pointed out, he squeezed your hand in return. There is obviously something there."

"But—" she stood there gaping at him a moment. "Ferb, you're right. But, feelings for me or no feelings for me, he is first and foremost my best friend." She pounded a fist into her other palm. "The friendship comes first; I have to fix this before I break him for good." She took a step back, glancing around the yard. "Give me a helmet; I'm going in."

Isabella stood outside the ten-tiered level batting cage, studying the red head inside. She swooned. "I love watching him play…" she smacked herself in the face. "Get ahold of yourself Isabella. This is for the friendship."

She took a deep breath as she slowly opened the batting cage door, stepping inside. "Hey Phin."

He glanced her way before quickly turning his attention back to the pitching machine, hitting the ball into the third tier, watching as it binged off a frying pan before coming back to earth.

"To bad." She casually walked closer. "You know, it's a shame we never really got to try this out when you first built it."

He ignored her, taking another swing, the ball only making it to the second tier.

"Are you going to talk to me, or are you just going to ignore me the entire time?"

The red head pulled a remote out of the back pocket of his jeans, aiming it at the pitching machine, causing the machine to whirr to a stop. He glared at her. "You going to stand there and talk, or are you going to bat?"

"Phin—"

"Talk or bat?"

She returned the glare. "Well if you're gonna be like that, guess I'm batting then." Isabella snatched the remote out of his hand, clicking the pitching machine back on. "If this is the only way you'll talk to me, so be it." She pushed him away from home plate, getting into a batting stance. "You don't have to be a jerk about it."

He raised an eyebrow, watching as the ball shot through the air, making clean contact with the bat before sailing into the ninth tier. It binged off a few obstacles before returning to the ground. He smirked. "So much for the power hitter patch. What happened to that?"

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe I was to focused on trying to get my best friend to talk to me."

"I'm talking now."

"You're dodging."

"No I'm not."

"Yes," Isabella swung as the machine spit out another ball, hurling it toward the batter's box. "You are." The ball connected with the bat, sailing up into the tenth tier, missing the end target by inches.

"I don't know why you came over here." The red head stepped up, knocking pretend dust off his cleats before angling the bat over a shoulder. "I'm fine."

"You're not fine. If you were fine, you wouldn't have left the arcade last night."

"I had to go home." The ball sailed into the tenth tier.

"Really Phin? Really? I saw that look in your eyes. I know you; you were scared."

He swung, the ball sailing into the fourth tier, hitting a lawn gnome before falling to the grass. He wheeled around. "How do you know I was scared? Isabella, you have no idea how I'm feeling!"

"Yes I do! I've been feeling that way for six years Phin! Six years! Do you think I like feeling funny around you? Do you think I like having butterflies around you?" She stepped up to the plate, slamming the ball into the ninth tier. "Trust me; if I didn't have these feelings, there would be a lot less stress. Believe me! Instead, I have to come over here because I worry about you!"

He blinked. "You worry about me?"

"Yes! Phineas, you're my best friend! Yeah I like you, but…" she sighed, taking a halfhearted swing, watching sadly as the ball only made it to the second tier. "The friendship comes first. And…I'm sorry if I put any sort of pressure on you while we were playing pool. I was just having fun." She held up the remote, clicking the pitching machine off. "These funny feelings are scary. They're new and hard to deal with. I've been dealing with them longer than you have. And…if I have to wait while you figure those feelings out, I will." She stood up on tiptoe, ready to kiss him on the cheek before refraining, awkwardly patting him on the shoulder before walking off. "I'll see you later."

"Izzy, wait."

She stopped walking, slowly turning around.

"Uh…listen…" Phineas paused a moment. "I don't wanna lose this." He motioned between them. "You know, whatever…this…is. I still wanna hang out with you and go on Friend Dates with you. The funny feelings shouldn't stop us from doing that, right?"

Isabella smiled. "They've never stopped me."

"Great. Soo…" He awkwardly looked around. "This week's Friend Date…"

"How about we take a break this week? You know, until you feel better."

"Will I ever feel better?"

"Eventually. I hope." The teen went to say something, only to pause, her ears perking up. "Phin, I'm sorry, but…I have to go. I can hear Mom calling me. I'll…see you at school?"

"Yeah. See you at school." The red head held up a hand in a wave, watching as his best friend left the yard. He turned around as Ferb entered the batting cage from the opposite side. "Hey Bro."

"Still feeling funny?"

"Yeah." Phineas paused in thought, looking through the batting cage door toward the street. He smiled. "But in a weird way, it's a good kind of funny."

A/N: Yeah, I brought back The Ultimate Batting Challenge from Return Policy; I loved that invention. Also, that episode just cemented my head canon that Phineas is a baseball nut as a teenager.