Hello! Sorry about my absence! This past week was the week from hell. Just the worst! I literally wrote 0 pages (and I was going INSANE because of it)! But I promise it was because I was insanely busy, not because I was sad because you guys haven't been reviewing as much these past few chapters (*poke poke*).

Anyhoo, without further ado, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Phineas and Ferb.

If I did, there'd be a lot more shipping… but sadly it wouldn't be nearly half as good of a show it is now. Aw well… onward! :)

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE:

Inevitable

ISABELLA

I didn't know quite how I was supposed to feel.

I felt like ever since I came back down those stairs last night at the party, Ferb had completely cut himself off from me. There was a distance there—a certain stoic attitude towards me that I wasn't used to when it came to Ferb. I felt like at the drop of a hat, he shut me out and pushed me to Phineas.

That's not to say I didn't still feel guilty.

I walked down those stairs. I said yes when Phineas asked me out. Not Ferb.

But part of me couldn't help but dwell on what he'd said to me… the part where he'd called whatever had happened between us some two-month fling. That seemed so hollow of a title for it. It sounded too fleeting, too noncommittal. Was it just a poor choice of words? A slip of a tongue? Or maybe Ferb and I had really just had some summer fling, and now that Phineas was interested, that was Ferb's way of telling me it was over.

I didn't know what to make of it.

Phineas made a joke in the story he was telling, and try as I might to be upset, I couldn't help but laugh.

"Did Buford ever find his shoe?" I asked, still giggling.

"Nope. That poor French guy probably still has it."

I snorted, twirling my straw through my drink. "Poor guy."

Phineas and I were having a good time; I couldn't deny that. There'd been an initial ten minutes of awkward, when we both—with reddened faces and flittering hands—talked about us. He asked me the same questions Ferb told me he'd been asked, and I gulped… before agreeing. Confirming. Sentencing.

Once he heard that, we delved down a tangent of Phineas amusedly exclaiming a whole spectrum of things like, "if you just told me!" and, "although I do suppose crazy schemes are more our forte, huh?"

My favorite redhead surprised me; just like that, the hard part was over. Phineas was never one to dwell on anything negative or awkward, so instead he'd smiled. He'd continued on, behaving just as he would any other day—laughing, and open, and wonderfully cheerful.

It was just what I needed, really. If he'd been all flirty or something—jeese, I didn't know what that would even look like for Phineas—I didn't know if I'd be able to handle it. But friendly, ray-of-sunshine Phineas eased my mind. It made me want to try to be as optimistic about this as possible.

"If you think that's funny, just imagine where that French guy found that shoe," Phineas continued. "Talk about unpleasant."

I almost spewed lemonade. "Oh god, I don't even want to imagine…" I shuddered dramatically.

Someday, I'd have to thank our bully friend for all of his crazy antics; whenever in doubt, a good story at Buford's expense could always lift one's spirits. I had another funny thought.

"Maybe he was just cranky because the dude reminded him of that old French girlfriend of his."

In unison, we both grinned.

"Bear suit flashback?" He laughed.

"Bear suit flashback," I agreed, remembering the time when Buford had dressed in a fuzzy bear costume and let us Fireside Girls hunt him through the woods. It was so long ago, around seven years, but I didn't think any of us could forget Buford in that suit. It had been… disturbing. Hilarious. But disturbing.

"Well I'm happy you're enjoying yourself." He smiled down at his empty plate and I blinked at him.

"Of course I am." Like anyone could not have a good time with Phineas Flynn. Although… I suppose that wasn't quite what he meant.

"You seemed surprised earlier."

"Well yeah," I scoffed. "Can you blame me? I never expected… this." I brandished my drink at him, waving it around in reference to the date in general. "Of course I was surprised."

"Yeah. I was surprised, too."

But he was the one to ask me… so that didn't quite make sense. "How so?"

"Well, I was referring to this in general," he gestured with his fork between the two of us. "I was up all night just checking to make sure—"

He blushed and looked down at the scraps left on his plate, like he'd revealed too much.

"Checking what?" I prompted, but he shook his head.

"It's embarrassing," he mumbled, which only made me even more curious.

"Well now I have to know! You can't just say that and expect me to let it go."

"Well… only if you promise you won't make fun of me."

"I learned long ago to never make such promises."

"Oh thanks," he scoffed, shaking his head. "You inspire so much confidence!"

"Please, Phineas, like you need any confidence from me. What were you checking?"

He looked up at the ceiling in exasperation before meeting my eyes. "I was up all night looking up my symptoms online. You know, on one of those doctor websites. Trying to make sense of this."

I blinked. "Symptoms?"

"You know…" he rubbed the back of his neck, "increased heart rate, fluctuations of breathing patterns, flippy stomachs, warm cheeks. I… didn't know how to handle it. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't dying, or something."

I stared at him. Was there even a response to that? Phineas didn't know how to handle liking a girl, and was up all night looking up the "symptoms" on WebMD…

"And what came of your search?" I asked, fighting hard to keep in my laughter. As it was, I couldn't help but smile.

"It wasn't very helpful. I kept getting redirected to dating websites or other really… weird ones I thought my computer's filter would have taken care of…" His fingers drummed nervously on the tabletop, and I couldn't get over how innocent Phineas was.

I mean, I was massively inexperienced with this kind of stuff. This was my first real date, just like Phineas, and I was a goody-two-shoes, but his innocence went way beyond mine. It was adorable. Not… in the way I expected it to be, but adorable nonetheless.

"Uh huh. And what did you do from there?"

"Well, I'd at least ruled out the idea that I had some disease or something," he said, and the seriousness of this declaration tipped me over the edge; I couldn't hold in my laughter anymore. A volley of giggles tumbled from my mouth.

"I'm listening," I assured, taking deep breaths when I noticed his impish glare. "Keep—keep going."

"After striking the internet off my list of helpful resources, I wasn't sure what to do. Ferb seemed tired, and after keeping him up to talk about this, I didn't want to bother him again. So I talked to my dad about it this morning, when I was helping him at his work."

The second he said his brother's name I felt my insides jump. It was ridiculous; I felt like a dog that'd just seen a squirrel, my ears perking up and my focus honing in on that one thing. But I remembered where I was, what I was doing, and reminded myself that I was having a good time.

Besides, at least Phineas wanted to do something like this with me. Ferb seemed like he couldn't care less!

Well, maybe that was an exaggeration. I mean… he did care. He had to care. It had to be more than "some two-month fling." I'm… sure it was more than that, even if that was what Ferb called it.

At least, it was more than that to me. Maybe I read in to Ferb's actions too much? A summer fling right before senior year… that was pretty normal. And I was sad, and being around Ferb cheered me up. Ferb always cheered me up, so maybe this was a new way to do that. A very different way. Maybe two-month fling was a good word to describe it.

That would make all of this so much easier.

If it were true.

"Dad confirmed that nothing weird was going on, and that… that it sounded to him like I liked you. I asked him what I should do, and he suggested I give things a try. Then you just happened to be there when I got home, and, well… I guess the rest is history."

This would be so much easier if Phineas wasn't being a hundred different shades of sweet. If I wasn't having fun. If I didn't love hanging out with him so much. Why couldn't this be awkward? Why couldn't Phineas be oblivious and inattentive? Why couldn't this date be a total flop?

Ugh. Boys! Why were things so complicated?

Demonstrating his infinite ability to mentally bounce all over the place, Phineas then veered into the topic of later today's plans, detailing his blueprints for a new Platy-Playground he wanted to build to replace the rickety neighborhood one that was old years before we were born.

Somewhere in this new tangent, Phineas and I finished up at the sandwich shop and began our walk home.

"And along the back, there will be a panel like a platypus tail. It'll be orange, and the crisscross ridges will stick out, so kids can climb up!"

"They won't have to worry about getting splinters anymore from the current playground's icky wood. That's such a great idea!"

"Yeah, and I think the neighborhood will really benefit from it. Too many kids stay inside these days. A new playground is just what they need."

We fell into amiable silence, walking side by side. I was still bemused as to how exactly we got here, but Phineas seemed happy. That made each step feel just a little bit lighter. Then I was struck with a funny thought.

"You should give yourself more credit, Phin, and the others should, too."

"Huh?" He adopted a look so perplexed that I had to laugh.

"You're not as bad at this kind of stuff as you seem to think. I'm impressed."

He swung around a light pole, and was suddenly right in front of me.

"Really?" he smiled, and I couldn't help but mirror it.

"Well, yeah."

"So…" he smirked and brushed a strand of my hair behind my ear, "I'm not completely awkward when I do something like that?"

Because it was Phineas, I shouldn't have been surprised by such confidence—and yet, because it was Phineas, such confidence surprised me. My stunned mind scrambled for something to say. What it settled on was lame, but at least it was something.

"Not quite Casanova, but you're very sweet."

"Not quite Casanova, huh?" he chuckled, falling back into step beside me. "Darn. I knew I should have gone with my plan with the explosives."

"Plan with…" My feet froze. Explosives? It took a few steps for Phineas to realize I'd stopped, and he glanced back at me. A sly grin played across his lips.

"Kidding, Isabella. No explosives, I promise."

I let out a puff of air, shaking my head at him. "Honestly, with you, Phin, I never know."

I noticed he was watching me, a few feet ahead. He deliberated for a moment, met my eyes—and held out his hand.

Uh.

My brain jumped on my momentary lapse of focus. It tried to drag me back to reality, tried to remind me just how many reasons I had to feel guilty right now. I could feel them building on the edge of my subconscious, but I yelled for them to stop.

This was what I'd always wanted, right? Yes, this is what I'd always wanted.

I reached forward and took his hand.

Phineas smiled, and it was so enthusiastic, so infectious, that I was able to push all the negativity back. I'd keep my promise to myself; I'd try to make the most of this. I owed Phineas that much.

"So, you free to help with the playground?" he asked, glancing down at our now-clasped hands with a playfully contemplative face that only he could achieve.

"I should be."

"Awesome! You've always been the best of our group with painting."

"Yeah, well that's because I actually use a brush! Buford always tries to paint using Baljeet's head. And really, it's all in the details."

We eventually made it back to the Flynn-Fletcher house, arriving just after Linda had. Her car was parked in front of the house, and she was still gathering up grocery bags in her arms.

I became painfully aware of Phineas and I's intertwined fingers, and wondered if I should let go. I had no clue what impression I should be giving Linda, no clue what Phineas and I were, or where we were going. Much to my surprise, Phineas made no motion to drop my hand. He gave zero indication that he was shy about this, or that he didn't want people to know we'd just gone out on a date.

"Hi Mom!" he called.

Still digging around in her car, she responded, "Hey Phineas, hey Isabella!"

How had she known I was here?

Phineas appeared to be thinking the same thing; "how—"

"Between your father, your sister, and the handful of people that saw you earlier, I'd wager most of Danville knows you two went out by now."

She finally stood up, turning around and smiling at us. Her eyes immediately drifted to our hands, which I let go as I rushed forward and took one of the grocery bags from her arms.

"Thank you, dear."

Phineas mirrored my action, taking two bags himself, and we followed Linda inside. We wove our way to the kitchen, dropping the bags on the counter.

"Ferb's in the backyard," Linda commented casually—though it sounded anything but casual to my ears. I could only imagine what she was thinking right now, especially after she saw me fall asleep on her other son… yesterday?! Holy crap… was the ice cream shop, my breakdown, the party, everything… really yesterday? That idea overwhelmed me with a swell of vertigo.

"Awesome," Phineas turned toward me. "I'm going to go grab my blueprints from my room. You can head on out."

I nodded. And as scary as the prospect of a minute alone with Ferb was, it was better than a minute alone with Linda right now. I at least had a fair idea of what Ferb thought of me. I walked outside.

Ferb was sitting under the tree with a blueprint in front of him. It was an odd sight, seeing him sitting there alone. And it was odd that it was odd; if Phineas were sitting there alone, I'm sure no one would question it. But there was just something that told us that Ferb belonged in a pair: Phineas and Ferb. Just Phineas was always fine. But never just Ferb.

I wished the others could see how remarkable he was on his own.

I wished he could see it.

I approached.

"Hey, Ferb," I stammered, watching my toe dig into the grass. My hands fidgeted nervously behind my back. "What'cha doing?"

Without looking up from his blueprints or speaking a word, he tossed me his phone. I hadn't been expecting it and nearly fumbled the airborne technology, but I managed to secure it after an absurd juggling act.

"What…" I looked down at the screen. I couldn't understand what I saw. There was a picture of Phineas and I from behind, holding hands and walking down the sidewalk. I scrolled down a little to see it was from Irving, with the message, XD X3 XD I won! XD X3 XD.

"He—"

"Won," Ferb confirmed, his pencil still flittering across the paper. "Apparently there was a massive bet regarding when Phinabella would happen. Figures Irving would win; he knows a disturbing amount about our lives."

"You… you mean…" I couldn't believe my ears. Our friends had been betting on when Phineas and I would get together? For some reason, the very idea of that made my insides twist, but not with excitement. "How—how big was this?"

Ferb was quiet for a little too long before he replied, "massive."

"Massive?"

"Probably half of Danville was in on it." Oh… "It's been going on for years." Oh god…

Linda had said most of Danville knew Phineas and I had gone out by now. And now this, this picture… who knows how many people had seen it by now. The Fireside girls, the rest of our friends… how many people now thought Phineas and I were dating? Did Ferb?

I don't think I'd ever felt so trapped as I did right now.

"But… but why?"

Ferb scoffed. For the first time since I'd entered the backyard, he met my eyes. "Why? Silly girl…"

"Silly?"

"Well it is rather axiomatic." He pulled his legs up, resting his chin on his knees. "Everyone has been waiting for this nearly as long as you have. Everyone's been anticipating the inevitable Phinabella."

I mustered the will to sit down next to him. Following his example, I pulled my knees to my chest. "Inevitable… Ferb, I'm not sure if I can go through with this. If I even want to…"

"Did you enjoy yourself?"

"Of course—"

"Were you happy today?"

"Well, yes…"

"Then you'd be stupid not to." His head shook with the most minuscule movement.

"Stupid not to what?" Phineas asked, walking out the backdoor with a rolled up blueprint in his hand.

What happened next took me completely by surprise; in a heave of boldness—terrifying, rash boldness—Ferb replied, "go out with you."

He looked back down at his drawing, and just like that, I felt a wall between us. Ferb created a distance between him and other people. It went along with his stoic, loner attitude. But it never was there when it came to us. Not for almost a decade. Feeling it now… dropping down like a sheet of frost, icicles digging under my skin, penetrating my lungs, freezing me so thoroughly not even tears could fall…

This… felt like the end of Ferb and I.

I—there were no words. There were no actions. I felt like an impossible promise: empty and inevitably broken.

Phineas blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah… I know this has a lot of complications, implications, and any other number of –ations." He crossed over to us and laid the Platy-Playground plans out on the grass. "I've been grappling with it too, Isabella," he smiled at me, "but I also think we're off to a good start."

I plunged through my maze of hurt, searching for words, words, words. To hold on to a glimmer of happy or… or even just okay. Anything to fill this void. Anything to keep the tiny, little splinters from scattering in the air of cold coming from my closest friend.

"Yeah," I agreed with a shaky breath. "I guess… we are."

R/R please!

I'll let you take that last line as you please.

Question is… if Phineas and Isabella really start dating, how long until our sweet, quiet Ferb finally explodes? Or maybe Izzy does? Do they do something that compromises the lie about that whole "jealousy theory," and does Phineas find out for himself? What happens to our three favorite characters?

Keep tuning in to see, and review, please! They make my day!

Lilly-Belle is out, peace!