Today had just not been good.

Isabella knew that not every day could be a good one - sadly, that reality hit you a lot harder when you were a college freshman still trying to get used to life on campus. She missed just chilling in the backyard with her boyfriend, his brother, and her two other best friends so much more these days…

So, what all went wrong today?

To start, her chemistry teacher gave a pop quiz today she was absolutely not ready for because she had spent the entirety of her study time through the night preparing for her engineering final for that semester. Yes, it wouldn't affect her overall grade too bad, but bombing a pop quiz still sucked anyway.

And for that matter, who the actual hell gives a pop quiz on the last day? Do you wanna damage the student morale more than you already have, bud?

Then, she spilled her coffee on the way to her next class… it was barely full by then anyway, but it was the fact that no matter how you looked at it, she spilled her coffee. That thought was really getting to her.

And to top it all off, Phineas got a late shift, right as they were gonna get together and watch a movie to celebrate the end of finals. She really disliked the universe right now.

However, she knew it was nothing that wouldn't pass… but dang, it stank to have to know you had to go through it first.

So, when she got back to her dorm room, classes done for the year until next semester, she flopped down on her bed and took an absolutely massive cat nap. It was the first positive part of that day for her… at long last, one had shown itself!

When she woke up, she chuckled at how late it was - now it was 6:00. She had gone to bed at 3:30. She wanted to be productive in some way, but just didn't know how.

"Ugh… what else is there to do today?" Isabella asked herself, staring up at her ceiling fan as she watched the arms of the fan go round and round, the chains for the light and off switch swinging softly to the breeze.

She could ride her bike through town… no, too much work. She didn't feel like getting out in the town and hearing all that commotion tonight. It was a Friday, and at the very end of the semester no less. Students were probably crowding the streets with their partying…

That was actually a pretty funny image, not gonna lie. Imagine Buford at one of those…

She found herself giggling at nothing at all for a second, before sighing… today really wasn't all that bad.

Yes, it was crappy, but that didn't mean nothing good hadn't happened. When she and Phineas called in between classes, she got to hear his voice… that was always a bonus.

And she had also seen a meme from her college's Instagram about theater that cheered her up a little bit after her awful quiz, so that was nice too…

...Wait.

Isabella practically flung herself out of bed - she had just gotten an idea. An idea she hoped she could do had just popped into her head... oh gosh, prayed she could do this…

This was exactly what she needed.

She may have been feeling a bit better, but she still needed to blow off steam… she was still pretty pissed about that pop quiz earlier, anyway.

She opened her closet and picked out a set of clothes to change into, then started going through her shoes… she didn't have very many, but the ones she did have were easy to go through - and even easier to pick out from.

The pair she wanted stuck out like a sore thumb. A beautiful, shiny sore thumb.

She quickly changed out of her pajamas into the other clothes she had laid out for herself, then loaded her shoes into her purse and put on a pair of flip flops for a quick change when she got where she wanted to go.

As she walked across campus, she noticed how it was still so bright out, yet it was 6:15… hehe. Perks of Danville ignoring daylight savings time - she hadn't ever experienced a full black sky at this hour! That was also something positive.

Okay, her thoughts were getting to be a bit much. Some music should fix that…

Isabella walked into the building on campus housing most of the theater rooms, her favorite pop album playing into her ears as she made it to the room she was looking for - one of the solo practice rooms.

Specifically, the one that had the hardwood flooring.

She shot Phineas a quick text to let him know where she was, and then set her purse down on the floor. She was wearing her current favorite pink tye-dye shirt, and also a pair of black shorts. Stylin', she thought of the look.

Isabella then pulled out the shoes from her purse - black LaDuca tap shoes.

"Oh… I missed you babes," Isabella smiled warmly.

She kicked off her flip flops, and gracefully put on her tap shoes. It was a bit weird, having not worn high heel shoes in so long, but it felt like coming back to something familiar when she slipped on the first shoe.

Then, after she had both on, she stood up - balancing wasn't exactly the easiest thing right now, but she soon was eased into the feel of the tap shoes once more. She slapped her toe down a few times, giggling at the lovely sound entering into her ears.

Isabella made sure to stretch before she did anything else; despite the urge just to get onto the floor and make some noise, she didn't want to die in the process - all dancers knew this, even the gang who mostly only did it in sporadic musical numbers.

After she was warmed up, however, the muscle memory of her old routines was starting to come back to her, and she knew it was time. Time to get tapping.

Isabella felt nothing but pure bliss and peace as she started to do flaps on the spot. Bouncing on her toes and making music with her feet once more… and in such pretty shoes!

She looked down at her feet - the instruments attached to her - and Isabella smiled as she tap danced. It had been too long (almost since this morning) since she had smiled genuinely.

And as she looked back in the mirror of the dance studio… it was like she was being smiled back at.

That warmed her heart. That felt good.

She continued tapping, letting the music of her feet flow through her body; she didn't need her phone right now. All she needed was the beat coming from her shoes striking the floor to guide her.

Speed it up a little...

Isabella shook her arms out as she began to dance harder, more complex rhythms. The tune to one of her favorite faster songs came into her head, and she tried to dance it out. It didn't exactly move like she had hoped it would, but there was still rhythm there to be played around with…

So she started again.

Isabella took an arm to her forehead, wiping the small trickles of sweat from her brow… how long had she been going? Surely it hadn't been that long…

Checking her watch verified that… Okay, somehow thirty minutes had passed since she had gotten here.

Isabella didn't mind though. The studio was free to use for up to two hours for theater students, and being one of them, she had no worries about going overtime for now. Her only worry was about her taps and making sure they all sounded clear and nice…

Knock, knock, knock.

Isabella stopped tapping. That definitely wasn't her… great. Now what? "Who is it?" she called out, a bit miffed her tapping had been interrupted. The day was finally looking up too…

"Pizza guy, for Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro?"

"Oh my gosh," Isabella mumbled.

Okay, well that voice was a very welcome intrusion.

She opened the door - and on the other side was none other than Phineas Flynn. "What are you doing here?!" Isabella exclaimed happily, throwing her arms around him. "I-I thought you had a late shift!"

"I didn't - that was to trick you! I wasn't gonna be doing anything, but then Buford needed help changing his tire," Phineas chuckled. "So I wanted to surprise you! Now, I must ask, what are you doing here?"

"O-Oh… well, uhm," Isabella muttered, blushing and fiddling with her ponytail. "Uh… I'm tap dancing."

"I can see," Phineas smiled, looking down at her feet. "Gosh, I know I'm not the target demographic, but those are some gorgeous shoes, Isa."

"Oh, thank you," Isabella smiled, putting a hand over her chest and propping one of her shoes up by the pointe of her toe. "They're my LaDuca's… so expensive, but no regrets! They were legit the only physical thing I asked for last Hanukkah, hehe."

"They're very pretty," Phineas said. "And they suit you!"

"Aww…" Isabella muttered, smiling and trying to fan her cheeks cool.

Seriously, why did she still get so many butterflies around Phineas?! It wasn't like she was nervous or anything… but, oh well. She guessed the guy of your dreams you've had the blessing of dating for over a year now just did that to you.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Phineas said.

"Oh, oh no no! I just… I needed to blow off some steam," Isabella said, brushing a strand of hair out of her face and behind her ear. "I've… not had the best of days. That's actually why I'm here."

"Aww, I'm sorry to hear about that," said Phineas gently, taking her into his arms. Isabella graciously accepted the hug, letting herself melt into her boyfriend's embrace. "You want a long hug?"

"Mhmm," Isabella mumbled from his shoulder tiredly.

Phineas chuckled, having absolutely no problem with that. He held Isabella as long as she wanted him to, the only sounds coming from his rubbing of her back occasionally scratching the fabric of her t-shirt, or her shoe moving and tapping against the floor.

"Phineas? Is it okay for me to be upset this day was kinda crappy?" Isabella asked.

"Well of course, Isa; why wouldn't it be?" Phineas asked, letting her move her head from on his shoulder to meet his eyes.

"It's just… well, I know we've had a lot of good days - so many, I can't even count them in my head," Isabella smiled, but her smile had a hint of sadness. "But I guess I just… I don't know, I-I-"

"Feel like you shouldn't let a day like this get you down?" Phineas asked. "Yeah, I completely get it - but hon, you know that we all have bad days. And we all can't help but get down on them… but, so long as we know that we still have better days ahead, getting down for a bit can be good for us. It reminds us, when the good times come back, that they're… well, the good times!"

"Hmm… that was really nice," Isabella said, smiling warmly. She then yawned loudly. "Oh gosh, I think I'm all tapped out for the day…"

"Hahaha! Okay, that was pretty funny," Phineas smiled. "Did you take a nap earlier?"

"Mhmm… but I pulled an all nighter last night," Isabella mumbled. "I think I wanna go ahead and go to bed… tap dancing made me happy, but it also made me really stinkin' tired."

"Well, I also pulled an all nighter, so going to bed sounds like a stellar idea," Phineas chuckled.

Isabella then activated the pleading eyes. "Carry me?"

"Oh, come on Isa," Phineas teased - she knew she already had won him over, it was just a matter of him admitting it.

"Please? For passing final's sake?" Isabella smiled.

"Oh… alright," Phineas smirked. "You wanna load up your purse first, though?"

"Oh yeah, good idea," Isabella giggled. She put her flip flops back into her purse, and then held out her arms - Phineas didn't really understand why you'd choose tap shoes over flip flops, but he respected the dedication. He scooped her up into his arms, and began to carry her across campus.

"Are you scared of being caught carrying me?" asked Isabella, giggling lightly as she yawned again.

"Nah, not really," smiled Phineas, chuckling. "There's an absolutely massive party going on at Ronnie McRonman's house. Literally, like, ninety five percent of campus is at that dude's house getting absolutely blasted."

Isabella started giggling at the thought of everyone on the pretty darn large campus piling into the absolutely hilariously small house that honestly resembled a woodland shack.

They managed to make it virtually unseen, though - Isabella also got to use her tap shoe to press the elevator button, which made her smile brighter than Phineas had seen up to that point.

When they finally did reach Isabella's room, she felt nothing more comforting than being placed into her bed so softly and gently by her boyfriend… it was such a nice feeling.

"You want me to get those shoes off?" Phineas asked amusingly.

"Mmm… nah," Isabella smiled tiredly, cuddling up with her pillow. "Gonna go tapping first thing tomorrow anyway… why bother?"

"Right, of course, my bad," Phineas chuckled. He kissed her forehead, and brushed a bang of tousled hair out of her face. "You sleep well, Isa. I'll see you tomorr-"

"Wait!" Isabella said, reaching out. "You think I'm gonna let you walk all the way back to your dorm room, and deal with your roommate coming back absolutely blasted?"

"I've gotta help him get in the door, don't I?" Phineas chuckled.

"For that prank he pulled on the super nice English teacher? Yeah right," Isabella giggled. Phineas couldn't help but nod in agreement. "And what I was saying… There's room for two here… two tired students who need each other's company, if I'm being honest."

Phineas sighed, taking off his jacket… he was already in comfy clothes anyway, so there was no worry about changing. "I really don't like it when you're so right like that. It gets on my nerves, Isa."

"I know," Isabella smiled.

Phineas chuckled, getting in on the other side of the bed with Isabella rolling over to face him. Admittedly, it was a little uncomfortable because for one, the bed was tiny, and two, his absolutely wonderful darling girlfriend still had her tap shoes on…

But he wouldn't change his position right now for anything.

"Good night Isa," smiled Phineas.

"Night Phin…" Isabella mumbled, before passing out.

It wasn't long before the triangle headed boy did the exact same, holding onto his slumbering girlfriend's hand.

Maybe today hadn't been so bad after all.

Happy Phinabella day everyone! I would absolutely love to hear what you thought of this story in a review! If you leave one the author will get super happy and feel super ready for his classes tomorrow! :3

Thank you guys so much for reading! Have a lovely day everyone, and stay safe! Love you all! *heart emoji spam*