Empty Apartment: Chapter 35

Authors Note: Okay, first things first, I want to clear up some confusion from last chapter. When Phineas was bleeding it was from his shoulder, not his eyes or hands. He lifted his hand up to wipe his eyes, but stopped when he noticed the blood on his hand. There's a contrast going on here where Ferb sees Phineas scratching/rubbing his shoulder all the time, while Phineas doesn't even notice himself doing it anymore. There was a chapter awhile back where a similar thing happened. Anyway, I hope this relieves some of the confusion, because as Twinkel13 pointed out (hilariously, by the way), if he was bleeding out of his eyes that would be 'some anime shit right there', and I try to stay away from that kind of thing :)

And on a second note, I just want to say that when I write, it's for me. I always try to get better as I write, but my main goal is simply to please myself. I always take what you guys say into consideration, but I don't always act accordingly. This story is for me, and if I'm not happy then I failed. There are a lot of characters in this playing main parts that you guys may not have expected (I mean the summary isn't long enough to go into subplots), but that I knew I wanted to have in this. Every minor character in this does play a part in the PhineasxFerb story line (except, oddly enough, Buford and Baljeet). That doesn't mean that I had to give them stories of their own, but I don't like throwing characters in simply for plot development. So basically, what I'm trying to say is that I don't have to have all the subplots, but I wouldn't be happy if they weren't there. I love this plot and how many characters I get to work with, and I won't take characters out if I feel like I will lose something in the process. I hope you guys like this story, but at the end of the day all I can do is make sure that I like it.

Anyway, Authors Note is way too long, so by all means read on! Also, happy Independence day to my fellow Americans!

Friday, March 14th

By the time art class rolled around on Friday Phineas was feeling confident. That wasn't to say he was in a good mood, though. He felt strung out.

Since his short encounter with Ferb on the way home from school on Monday, Phineas had been mostly sticking clear of the tall British teen. He hadn't been actively avoiding of course, just making sure he spent ample time with his friends and girlfriend.

He, Baljeet, Buford, and Isabella had hung out a few times, with Isabella typically joining the group after she was done with her afterschool activities, and it'd been fun, although a little stressful. Of course the important thing had been that he was giving Ferb his space without any outward signs that it was bothering him, which it was.

Phineas didn't like not walking home with Ferb, and after sketching out so many ideas for the car, he hated not knowing if there was any progress. But those were sacrifices that had to be made.

Phineas knew he had to tread lightly around Ferb and pick and choose his moments to talk to him. Ferb wanted to push him away, so he had to go with it. It was like riding a swing; when you wanted to go up, you pushed your legs out, when you started to fall, you pulled your legs back.

When Ferb didn't want him around, Phineas needed to make himself scarce, and when Ferb didn't care if he was around, Phineas needed to try to make him care before he had to make himself scarce again.

It was simple, really. It'd be simpler if Phineas didn't want to be around Ferb so badly, but Phineas knew his patience would pay off. Of course at the moment Phineas needed to make sure things were going his way.

"I heard Django's dad left late last night. Django said it took him forever to hall all the booze upstairs." Phineas mentioned offhandedly to Adyson, although he'd chosen the comment very deliberately.

"I heard the same thing. I can't wait to get drunk off my ass!" Adyson said excitedly.

"I've heard that from a lot of people today." Phineas told her as he made sure the conversation stayed on the topic of drinking.

"I don't suppose Mr. Fletcher is one of them?" Adyson asked sending a smirk in Ferb's direction.

Phineas inwardly smiled, happy to have Adyson saying what he wanted her to. It was never very difficult with Adyson since she said whatever came to mind most of the time.

"Haven't said a word on the matter." Ferb replied. And Phineas couldn't help but agree.

Ferb hadn't really talked about the party in the last week. As time went on he just seemed more and more annoyed by the topic. Of course people hadn't really been talking about the drinking aspect to Ferb. Normally Buford would have, but he'd been trying his best not to talk about drinking too much in front of Baljeet, since the smaller boy was a light weight who didn't drink much.

And Adyson would normally be all over the topic, but since she was performing she was more focused on that.

So that meant that Phineas needed to lead the conversation there in hopes that it would at lead mildly grab Ferb's attention.

"Well, maybe you should. Buford said you acted like you could drink." Adyson mentioned.

"Well enough to not act like a shitfaced moron." Ferb said in his typical monotone voice. Someone else may have gotten offended by the statement, but not Adyson, which was exactly what Phineas was counting on.

"You should prove that to Buford. He said he wanted to see you drink against someone good." Adyson explained with a smirk on her face.

"Excuse me if I don't give a bloody fuck about proving myself to that blinkered idiot." Ferb said in a perfectly calm voice despite the obvious venom in the statement.

"Even if not to prove yourself to Buford, you are planning on coming and drinking, aren't you?" Adyson asked, while Phineas thanked God that Adyson was saying all of the right things.

"Do I have to RSVP to this thing to stop being asked if I'm going?" Ferb asked, a sarcastic tone to his voice.

"It might help," Adyson said with a shrug before she continued. "But I'm just trying to make polite conversation, and turn your attention to something you might actually like."

"You're such a Good Samaritan." Ferb said with an eye roll.

"So are you RSVPing?" Adyson asked.

"Sure, sounds like the dog's bollocks." Ferb replied, ignoring the confused look from Adyson at his phrasing.

Phineas, on the other hand, had to force back his smile. That was just what he'd wanted to hear.

"Do you know where Django lives?" Phineas asked, not seeming too invested in the conversation.

"No." Ferb answered curtly.

"You can follow me, Buford, and Baljeet if you want. Or ride with us. It doesn't really matter." Phineas offered, making sure to sound casual.

He was met with a look that seemed indifferent at first, but upon further inspection seemed just a bit angry.

"I can follow you." Ferb said, and there was a slight edge in his voice that Phineas almost didn't notice.

"Alright, we'll meet you at your house at eight." Phineas told him without offering anything else.

Ferb only nodded, that slight look of anger still in his eyes, but Phineas couldn't bring himself to care.

He was getting what he wanted, and he'd deal with any consequences later.

Baljeet and Buford were sitting next to each other in their last period history class. There was only about ten minutes left in class before the final bell would ring, and Mr. Ray had given the class that time to work on their homework. Of course there were very few students who were actually using their time for that.

"Okay, may we go over the plan for tonight once more, please?" Baljeet asked Buford as he tried to calculate if there was any way for things to go wrong.

"Yeah," Buford answered, sounding a little irritated at having to go over the plan again. "I'm driving. I'll meet you and Dinner-bell at his house. From there we go to the party. When we're done, we drop Phineas off at his house, and then go back to mine."

"And your mother will not be home?" Baljeet questioned.

"Nope, she's out of town visiting my aunt. We got the place to ourselves." Buford said with a smirk on his face.

Baljeet smiled at that as he looked down at the floor. He didn't remember the last time they'd been completely alone at one of their houses.

"It's gonna be awesome 'Jeet." Buford told the smaller boy. Baljeet wasn't sure if he was talking about the party or being alone.

"I am sure that it will be." Baljeet said with a smile, although there was something a little off about it.

Baljeet had found out from his mother that Mishti and her family were in America as of that morning. Of course her family wouldn't be at the house just yet. They were taking some time to sightsee and probably wouldn't be arriving for a week or two.

Still, it had Baljeet on edge. He knew that sooner or later he would have to tell Buford that Mishti was coming. At the moment his plan was to at least wait until after the party to break the news. At least then there was a chance that Buford would be in a good mood.

"You don't need to worry 'Jeet, no one's parents are gonna know a thing. Buford's got this." Buford said proudly as he pointed to his chest.

"I know," Baljeet agreed as he tried to clear his mind of things dealing with Mishti. "Who is driving home?"

"What do you mean?" Buford asked.

"From the party. Who will be driving us to your house?" Baljeet asked, happy to focus on the details of what would hopefully be a great night.

"Uh, me?" Buford said as though it was common sense.

"But you will be drunk!" Baljeet yelled before he quieted himself, realizing that he was still in a classroom. "You cannot drive."

"It's not that far, and I won't be that drunk." Buford said with a wave of his hand.

"Are you insane? Drunk driving is very dangerous, and I will not let you do it! I will drive." Baljeet hissed. Buford only smiled in reply.

"Fine with Buford."