CHAPTER 3
Phineas trudged into his and Ferb's room, careful not to wake up his sleeping brother in the far bed. He glanced at his alarm clock next to his bed as he changed into pajamas. 11:37. Not gonna get enough sleep tonight, but totally worth it. Yawning, Phineas climbed into bed and pulled the covers over his head, as he blissfully surrendered to sleep.
* "Baljeet said you had a crush on me back in grade school."
"Oh. Yeah. I had a big crush on you," Isabella blushed and looked away, not able to meet Phineas's eyes.
"Wow…I had no idea."
"Really? I thought I was being so obvious."
"Absolutely clueless, sorry."
"I sorta gave up when we got to high school." NO, I started to like you then. Curse you, fate.
"Yeah…" You gotta tell her. "…I think that's when I started to have a thing for you." Looking away and missing Isabella's jump-start.
"Well… that's unfortunate timing." And there's the rub. We don't have a chance now. I messed it up.
"Yep. You're off to college."
"Tri-State State. Have you decided where you're going yet?" No, no I haven't…but maybe this will work.
"You know what, I just did." Tri-State State, here I come!
"Oh. Huh," Wait, what? Not what I was expecting!
"Hey, what's wro-" She's holding the Danville U letter! "Oh shoot, I'm sorry, wrong letter." Oh man, I almost messed up badly.
"Well, I guess I'll see you in two weeks." YES!
"Yes, yes you will." *
* "See ya."
"In two weeks."
"Eh, I've waited this long." *
* "Phineas! What are you doing?" Something I should've done a LONG time ago. Here goes nothing.
"This." I'm actually kissing ISABELLA GARCIA-SHAPIRO! *
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP
Phineas grunted as he woke up in the middle of his dream, Ferb looking over at him from where he had turned off the alarm with an eyebrow quirked. Phineas could read the thoughts from Ferb's face. Late night?
"Yeah, I guess. Must have had an amazing idea," Phineas replied as he yawned and turned over, missing Ferb's incredulous look.
"Ferb, I had such a great series of dreams last night," Phineas continued as he stood up and stretched, before pacing the room in thought. "I saw Isabella before she left for college, and we confessed our feelings for each other. I decided to join her at Tri-State State, and then when she drove off, you and Nessa picked me up and followed her so I could kiss her. Man, I wish it had been real."
Ferb's eyes widened again. Does he really think yesterday was a dream? He was about to speak when Phineas's phone buzzed. Phineas turned back to his phone and picked it up, opening it to see who it was from.
Isabella: Did yesterday really happen?!
Phineas looked up at Ferb. "Umm, Ferb, what exactly happened between us yesterday? Because Isabella just asked me if yesterday really happened, and now I'm wondering if it was all just a dream or not."
Ferb smirked. "Well, if you mean the parts you thought were dreams, and then adding on kissing Isabella multiple times throughout the remainder of the night and meeting up with Nessa's father, then yes, it really happened."
Phineas just stood there, shocked. "Wait, really? We-we kissed multiple times? And did everything else I thought I had dreamt?" His early-morning drowsiness disappeared as he tried to remember everything.
Ferb sighed and gestured to Phineas's phone. Phineas looked down at the photo of Isabella's contact in his phone, which was one he had taken himself at their high school senior prom. Man, she looked so beautiful, regardless of how we had both gone single. Shaking his head, he replied to the text.
Phineas: Umm…I think so? I thought I had a dream last night where we both confessed our feelings for each other, and then I chased you down after you drove away and kissed you in the road.
He didn't have to wait long for a response.
Isabella: It wasn't a dream, Phineas. :)
Isabella: Unless we both shared it…
Phineas looked up at Ferb, smiling. "Odds Isabella and I shared the exact same dream of yesterday?"
Ferb shook his head and walked out of their room smiling. Perry chattered from his place on the floor next to Phineas, and Phineas looked down. Wait, I remember Perry is a secret agent, and I found out yesterday…everything really did happen yesterday! Including what I thought I had dreamt building last night. He picked up Perry and stroked him absently as he returned his attention to his phone.
Phineas: Apparently yes, according to Ferb, yesterday definitely did happen. Care to come over? :)
After sending the text, Phineas sat there for a minute, continuing to pet Perry as he replayed his new memories of 10 years ago and yesterday, committing them to long-term memories. But he was quickly pulled out of his reverie when he heard the doorbell ring downstairs. He checked his phone again. It's literally only been a minute.
Phineas stood up and glanced out his window, which looked down on the front yard. Sure enough, Isabella was waiting on the front porch, fully dressed. She looked up at his window just then and noticed him, and she waved excitedly with a huge smile on her face. Phineas chuckled at her exuberance, but waved back and left his room, heading downstairs in his pajamas to greet Isabella.
When he got down, his mother had already opened the door and invited Isabella in, greatly amused at how early she'd come over. Linda was asking Isabella about her plans for the day when Phineas stepped off the last stair, and Isabella's eyes snapped to his as she abruptly stopped in the middle of her sentence.
Linda followed Isabella's eyes to her son, standing in his pajamas at the foot of the stairs with his hair messy and unkempt, and smiled. "I'll leave you two be," she said, and quickly entered the kitchen. The two teens didn't notice her leave.
"Hey," breathed Isabella softly, almost like if she pushed too hard the scene would break and the two of them wouldn't be there.
Phineas smiled. "Hey yourself," he said just as softly, before putting his arms out in front of him. Isabella needed no further prompting, and suddenly he was holding her in his arms, her head tucked under his chin as stray strands of her hair tickled his face. Phineas could smell her shampoo in her still-damp hair, and he sighed contentedly and closed his eyes to savor the moment.
"I can't believe it was all real," murmured Isabella softly. "I had so many dreams last night of everything from yesterday, and I couldn't tell which ones were dreams and which were memories."
"The same thing happened to me," Phineas replied. "I imagine it's a side effect of getting those erased memories back and trying to assimilate them, although Ferb didn't seem to have such an issue."
"Oh, I knew all along," Ferb interjected as he passed by from the kitchen and headed up the stairs. Isabella lifted her head out from under Phineas's and looked at him, just noticing his appearance and the small bags under his eyes. "Are you OK? Did you get enough sleep last night?"
Phineas shrugged and nodded unconvincingly. "I'll be fine for today, but I should make sure to get better sleep tonight." He looked down at himself again. "Although I do need to shower and change before getting breakfast."
"Can I join you?" Isabella asked quietly, before blushing profusely as the implications of what she said hit both of them. "I-I meant, c-can I walk upstairs with you? Maybe stay in your room while you shower?" She squeaked out, turning away from Phineas with her entire face and neck red.
"I understood what you meant," Phineas answered, chuckling but also beet red. "And I'm fine with it, although it isn't only my room, so you should ask Ferb if he has any issue with you staying in our room."
"No need," came the quiet voice with the British accent. "I just grabbed Perry to hang with him. You two enjoy yourselves." Ferb finished with a wink, noticing just how red the two of them were. Ah, yes, I was right.
Phineas and Isabella walked up the stairs in complete silence, still not over Isabella's accidental verbal faux pas. When they reached Phineas's room, he remembered his mother's words from last night, which caused him to sigh and shake his head at how ludicrous he thought it had been the night before.
Isabella noticed. "What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing really," Phineas said before laughing nervously. "I just remembered my mom teasing me last night about how if you were to spend time with me in my room, the door needed to remain open. I was so mortified, but I couldn't see it happening so quickly yesterday. And now it is."
"Well, yes, I guess it is," Isabella admitted, also with a faint blush on her cheeks. "But I'm definitely not ready for anything beyond kissing and snuggling yet." She warned him, looking him in the eyes.
Phineas nodded his head. "Yeah, I understand. We've both been waiting so long for this to happen, albeit you much longer. I just don't want to push anything beyond where you're comfortable." He reached over and hugged her again, and then rummaged around in his dresser drawers to get a new, clean outfit out. "I'm going to head over and take a shower, feel free to look around."
"Thanks, see you soon" Isabella replied, before gazing around the room she had been in a few times over the last 14 years. Nothing much had changed, although the booth containing a bunch of pieces of paper over in the corner was new. She paced over and realized the booth contained all of Phineas's acceptance letters. He really couldn't decide amongst any of these schools. And then he hears I'm going to Tri-State State and basically decides on the spot to join me. Oh, Phineas. She sighed as she continued to offhandedly poke about in the room, absorbing information but not really paying attention until she accidentally knocked a small book from his bedside table.
Turning to pick it up, Isabella realized it was a photo scrapbook. It was titled "Memories with Friends", with the first page starting the summer he turned five. This was the summer we moved in next door! Sure enough, a picture on the second page, likely taken by one of their parents, showed her, Phineas, and Ferb jumping around and playing in the Flynn-Fletcher backyard. Ferb had only been here for a few months at this point, after Mr. Fletcher had married Phineas's mom, she recalled.
Sitting down on Phineas's bed and flipping the pages, her eye caught one picture a few pages in. Oh, wow, this one is from the day of the rollercoaster on the first day of summer, 10 years ago. When I walked in with hearts in my eyes…I'm SO glad nobody caught me,Isabella thought, unaware Baljeet had actually seen it.
She paused on this set of pages, looking through all the summer's amazing events, from the beach party to the giant bubbles, from the Football X-7 game with Ferb's cousins to saving summer when the Earth's orbit was moved. Isabella let her eyes linger on specific sets of photos longer than others. Chief among them were the few from the summer solstice and their trip around the world (which had to have been taken by Ferb on the trip, or Irving when they were back in the Flynn-Fletcher backyard), although she noticed a complete lack of pictures of just her and Phineas in Paris. Which makes sense, we were alone there…no, stop, it's over. And moving on!
Isabella moved on to the pictures from her birthday, which now featured her in a strong way due to the nature of the day they were celebrating. A few of her and Ferb, or her with both Phineas and Ferb, which indicated Irving had taken those. More of her with just Phineas, with some definitely taken by Ferb. Isabella sighed, running her fingers over the pages of photos before continuing.
About two-thirds of the way through the scrapbook she noticed something. Everyone was about high school age, and although she remembered not coming by as often during those years, the proportions of pictures of her compared to the rest of the guys in the group actually increased. Whereas before it had seemed to be an even split between each person, Isabella could see she now was the prime focus for about half of the pictures, with the other half being split amongst Ferb, Buford, Baljeet, and a little of Irving and Django smattered in. She still knew the pictures were being taken by Irving, Ferb, and maybe Django, which told her the editing was being done by Phineas. This shows how much he cared for me over the last few years, where every moment with me made him happy and he wanted to save as many as possible for prosperity. Tears filled her eyes.
Right then, Phineas walked back into his room, freshly showered and dressed, his hair still messy but at least looking like he had attempted to run a comb through it. He took one look at Isabella, tears shining in her eyes as she looked up at him while holding his photo scrapbook, and he smiled guiltily.
"I'm sorry," the two of them said simultaneously. They both followed up with "Wait, what? You're sorry?" again spoken in tandem, before Phineas silently indicated to Isabella she could go first.
"I should've said something at the beginning of high school," Isabella started her explanation. "I never realized how much my increasing distance was hurting you over the last few years, and I'm sorry."
Phineas rubbed his hand along the back of his neck. "Yes, but I had spent 10 years not even noticing you were attracted to me and blowing off every one of your romantic attempts. It's not your fault at all, it's mine."
Isabella waved it away. "I realize now, you weren't ready, especially at how young we were. And I really should've considered you might also feel the same way about me once you were ready, especially considering I was really the only girl with whom you connected on an emotional level."
About to reply, Phineas stopped and shook his head while thinking to himself. "OK, here's what we should do," he finally said. "We are obviously both contrite for leaving the other hanging, so to speak, for so long. However, as we can tell here, both of us vocalizing our apologies continuously is not going to help. Therefore, I suggest we leave this behind us, and stop apologizing for missing signs. Instead, as has been hinted to me by other people I trust, let's make sure we are honest with each other, and communicate as much as possible, so things like this aren't missed again, or misinterpreted in the wrong way and might cause one of us harm." He sat down on the bed next to Isabella and held her hands in his. "Can we agree to talk about this if it comes up again?"
"Yes, yes we can," Isabella answered, happy tears now shining in her eyes, and she pulled him back onto the bed with her.
They hugged for a while, before Phineas sat up. "You know, as much as I would love to lay here with you all day, I do think you need to move to Tri-State State today. And, I should tell them I'll be attending this year."
Isabella's head was a little foggy due to slight Phineas overexposure, but his sentence cleared it right up. "Yeah, you're right, we should really get a move on." As the two of them walked downstairs and out into the front yard, Isabella suddenly stopped in her tracks. "Phineas! I'm staying at Tri-State State tonight, but you have to get back home! How are you planning to travel home?"
A quizzical look passed over Phineas's face briefly before he laughed and held up his phone. "Oh right, this is the reason I didn't get such good sleep last night. I realized I would need a way home, so I thought back to what we did 10 years ago. I recreated the part of Candace's phone with the transportation functionality and installed it on my phone. I'll be able to get home easily."
"Wow, Phineas, you never cease to amaze me!" Isabella smiled at him. "Well, then I guess we should get going!"
"Yes, yes we should," Phineas responded. Isabella just rolled her eyes and bumped her hip into his, while smiling at his continued use of one of his favorite catchphrases from when they were kids. The two teens entered Isabella's car, still piled high with the stuff she was bringing to Tri-State State and started on the road to college.
After a two-and-a-half-hour drive, in which Isabella decided to take advantage of Phineas coming with her and have him drive the second half of it, they could see the city of Marshwood, the host of Tri-State State University. Danville was located in the center-east of the Tri-State Area and was the seat of the government there. Marshwood was located at the western fringes of what used to be the Adjacent Area, basically as far west as one could possibly get and still be in the Tri-State Area.
Tri-State State itself was located on the eastern side of town, close to the highway connecting Marshwood to Danville. The campus itself was a large portion of the economy of the city, as was the case for most college towns, and Isabella could see a lot of local businesses with "Tri-State" this and "University" that scattered around. Phineas turned up one of the side streets near the far end of the dorms and managed to find a spot on the street right in front of her dorm, allowing them to quickly unload the car. The building she was going to live in was the third-furthest from campus and one of the oldest. Isabella figured she was placed here since she was a freshman RA and she would be getting her own room, plus it was likely the building would be majority freshmen, so she wouldn't have to worry about being a figure of authority for people mostly older than her.
Isabella waited with her stuff until Phineas returned from parking the car in the parking garage just down the street where she had bought a permit to park all year. Once he returned, they moved her stuff into the entrance way. The two of them quickly settled into a routine where one of them would go up to the second floor, where Isabella's room was located, with as many bags as they could carry. The other would wait until they could see the first person again and bring the next set of stuff up to her room.
It wasn't a bad room, as far as freshman rooms in college go, and because Isabella was an RA, she had it all to herself, which was a definite perk. After they had finished moving her stuff into the room but before unpacking it, while they were taking a short break from moving stuff, Phineas brought it up.
"How did you manage to be an RA? Do they normally let in freshmen?"
Isabella shrugged from her seat on her new bed. "Honestly, I don't know. I applied, and they accepted."
Phineas nodded. "Maybe it was because they knew how responsible you could be, what with your time on student government and debate club in high school and here, and your history with the Fireside Girls."
"Maybe." Isabella pondered it. "I'm actually unsure about how well I'll do, considering I may have to be a leadership figure for someone older than me, if there are any sophomores living in the dorms."
"You'll do fine, I'm sure of it. You've never had any issue taking charge when necessary, and people respect you," Phineas stated, earning a smile from Isabella. He looked around her room, then back to her and winked. "Well, I know where I'll be spending a lot of my time this upcoming year."
Isabella blushed prettily. She walked into her room and Phineas was sitting at her desk, making up another plan for an amazing invention or doing his homework, she couldn't tell. He looked up when he heard her enter and smiled. He immediately dropped whatever it was he was doing and strode across the room to her, capturing her lips in a deep kiss as he relieved her book bag from her shoulder and placed it on the ground behind him. She moaned lightly into Phineas's lips, letting her hands roam down across his back and then back up his sides, before gripping the back of his neck and deepening the kiss…
"Isabella! Are you OK?"
Isabella shook her head as she snapped back to reality. "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. Internally, she sighed as her daydream left her. It's too soon to be thinking about it, we literally started dating yesterday. And I just went the deepest I've gone into Phineasland in a while, at least since middle school.
For once, Phineas wasn't oblivious to Isabella's feelings. He wrapped her up in a hug and whispered, "Don't worry about it. I'm sure we'll get there in our own good time." He held onto her for a little bit longer, before he looked back at the clutter of boxes and suitcases in the room. "I wish I had thought about building an automatic unpacker, it would really help in this situation."
Isabella raised one eyebrow playfully. "What, no 'Ferb, I know what we're gonna do tomorrow'?"
In Danville, a green-haired teenager reading a book sneezed as he felt a disturbance in the air around him.
Phineas guffawed. "Nah, maybe I'll tell him once I get home tonight. Although…it would be nice for both of us to have one before we move out on our own in two weeks. We could get our stuff moved much easier."
The teens spent the next hour taking as much as possible out of Isabella's boxes and bags, covering her floor and parts of her desk and bed. They decided to break for lunch and walked to the student union to see what food options were on campus. After eating, Isabella went back to her room to organize and decorate her room, but she encouraged Phineas at this point to head to the administration building and finalize his enrollment. Neither of them wanted to leave, but they realized they would probably need to learn to live apart from each other during school, as schedules and rooming would dictate.
Phineas found the administration building easily, and walked into the registrar's office first, to sign up for classes. Of course, this late in the summer and so close to the start of classes, there wasn't much of a choice for him, but since he had such a great pedigree with his inventions, he was able to register for intermediate levels in physics and mathematics. Phineas completed his class schedule with the largest freshman introductory class in economics and an unpopular course on scientific writing, along with a seminar on technology in public policy. The latest three classes fulfilled general requirements for a degree, and he was guaranteed he would get regular priority for classes in the spring. Still, while it didn't look like the greatest schedule, Phineas was glad for his physics and mathematics classes, which he hoped would stimulate his mind much as possible.
Thanking the registrar's office, Phineas moved on to the residential housing office, where he ran into a pleasant surprise.
"Yes, how can I help – Phineas Flynn! How good to see you!" The young man working in the office had dark blond hair and wore a green baseball cap on his head, and enthusiastically came out to greet Phineas and shake his head.
Phineas racked his brain as he tried to remember the vaguely familiar man in front of him. "Hi there! Don't tell me your name, I'll figure it out." He stared quizzically at the young man for a few seconds before his eyes lit up. "Balthazar Horowitz! I haven't seen you since middle school! How's it going?"
"Oh, man, you remembered me! I'm doing great, Phineas, thanks for asking! Boy, it seems like it was only yesterday when you and Ferb were building all those amazing things in your backyard!" The newly-identified Balthazar was bouncing on the tips of his toes in excitement as he talked with Phineas.
Phineas chuckled. "Well, for us it WAS just yesterday I built a teleporter, and Ferb helped me with something the day before, but I know what you mean! So, you work here in the residential office?"
Balthazar nodded rapidly. "Yeah, I figured getting a job to help pay for school would be a good idea, and this was the first place on campus to respond back to my employment inquiries, so I took the job! What about you?"
"Well, I took forever to figure out where I wanted to go to college," Phineas started. "However, just yesterday I was…alerted to Isabella's – you remember Isabella, right? My next-door neighbor?"
"The girl who had a huge crush on you when we were in grade school?" Balthazar asked, his eyes widening again.
Phineas sighed and shook his head. "How in the world did literally everyone know about it but me?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," Balthazar quickly responded. "I just kinda thought you knew but weren't ready for the enormity of emotional commitment it entailed, and you didn't want to tell Isabella for fear of breaking her heart."
"Well, I wish I could've used what you just said as the real reason," Phineas said semi-morosely as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "However, no, I was just completely oblivious to her feelings towards me, all the way through grade school, middle school, and high school. Well, I had developed feelings for her in high school, but I never told her to not risk our friendship."
"But what happened yesterday?" At this point Balthazar was hanging onto every word from Phineas.
A smile unconsciously broke out over Phineas's face. "I learned Isabella was leaving to come down to Tri-State State yesterday to start her extracurricular activities early, and I chased her around Danville until I found her in front of my house, where she had come to say goodbye to me. One thing led to another, and we both admitted our feelings for each other. I decided to come here as well so we could be together in college and begin our apparently long-awaited relationship."
"Aww, I'm so happy for you two!" Balthazar almost squealed out. "I'd say it's about time, but you knew already."
Phineas laughed. "Thanks, Bal. But yeah, since I decided to come here, I need to find a place to live on campus at least for the first year."
Balthazar's smile fell a little bit. "Well, it's not a great situation right now, as I'm sure you know. This close to the semester starting, there isn't much availability left. Do you have any preferences?"
Phineas thought for a moment. "As much as I wish I could have my own room near the center of campus, I imagine those are all gone. Just show me the openings in rooms closest to the physics department, and I'll look through those."
"Perfect, good place to start." Balthazar pulled up the information on his computer and started searching around. "Well, in the third-closest building to the physics room, we have one bed in a triple on the top floor open. This is normally one of the rooms we put the late arrivals in, it's not really a great room at all…Would you be interested in seeing it? Or do you want to look elsewhere?"
"Umm…" Phineas thought for a moment. "No, I trust you. If you think I can do something better, let me see something else."
Balthazar nodded as he searched for another place. "So, there's a bed in a triple just opening up in a week, in a room of sophomores two buildings over on the edge of campus, because one of the guys in the room decided to do a study abroad program this year, leaving his bed empty. Here, this is where it is located. The building is majority freshmen, but these sophomores lived here last year and didn't want to move."
Phineas took one look and gulped in surprise. The room was three doors down from Isabella, and part of her domain as RA.
"Regardless of how much I might want to live in the room, I don't think I should," he muttered under his breath.
"Why?" Balthazar asked him.
Phineas pointed at the list of RAs for the specific dorm building. "Because the room is on Isabella's floor, and I really think it would be a conflict of interest for her to be the RA in charge of my room."
"Ah, yes, I had forgotten she was the RA in this area of the building!" Balthazar nodded. "Well, thanks for being honest with us. I know I don't have to tell you it could likely end up being a sticky situation if Isabella had to deal with anything in your room. I don't necessarily think you would end up being an issue, mind you, but I can only imagine what the sophomores in the room would think they could get away with if they had a freshman RA who was dating their roommate."
"Yeah, I couldn't make it harder for her, it's going to be tough enough as a freshman RA as it is," Phineas shrugged his shoulders. "Anything else?"
Balthazar clicked a couple more times, before a small grin crept across his face. "How about a bed in a double without any occupants yet, only one floor down from Isabella and at the other end of the hallway?"
"Yes," Phineas replied immediately. "I'll take it. Any reason why the room is currently unoccupied, though?
"Not really sure. It could be because it's on the first floor, so people outside could see into the room. Also, it shares one wall with the entranceway and one wall with the floor bathroom, so it might be loud."
Phineas rubbed his neck thoughtfully. "I can recreate the cone of silence I designed a few years ago to dampen all noise going into or out of the room and install a one-way viewing screen on the window so no one can just glance in and see anything. Those issues are easily handled, so if there's any other main issues?" At Balthazar's head shake, Phineas smiled. "I'll take the room. Thank you so much Balthazar!"
"No problem Phineas!" Balthazar smiled. "I hope you have a great semester, and please say hi to Isabella for me! And if you ever want to grab a meal sometime, I'd be happy to catch up with you!"
"Of course, Bal! Pencil me in for three weeks, once I move in, start classes, and settled into a rhythm." Phineas waved goodbye as he left the office and walked out of the administration building back towards Isabella's room.
Halfway back, he decided to surprise her with his room location. He stood outside his room window and called Isabella.
"Hey Phineas, whatcha doin'? Finished with registering for classes yet? Have you found a place to live?" Isabella shot questions at him.
"Whoa there, Isabella, slow down!" Phineas laughed. "Yes, I have registered for classes, and I did find a place to live, but I think you're going to have to get me into the building. Can you meet me there?"
"Sure, but I'm not totally familiar with the layout of all the dorms on campus, you'll have to direct me to the building," Isabella replied.
Phineas had to smother his laughter. "Of course. You can start by walking outside." He smiled as he waited for her response.
"Oh haha, Phineas, very funny." Isabella walked outside right then, but missed Phineas leaning up against the wall not 20 feet away.
Smirking, Phineas said, "Now turn left."
"OK, but I'm not-" Isabella cut herself off when she saw Phineas leaning up against the wall and closed her phone. "OK, Phineas, I guess you want me to lead you there from here, huh? Not a bad choice, it gives us more time to spend together." She winked at him flirtatiously and giggled at his light blush.
"Yeah, well, I ended up leading you there myself." Phineas pointed at the window. "This is my new room next year."
Isabella's mouth opened in surprise, and Phineas grinned at the look on her face for about a second before he was suddenly tackled to the ground as an ear-splitting shriek left the mouth of his girlfriend. "You're living in the same building as me?! Oh, Phineas, this is too amazing. We won't have to worry about going across campus to see each other, we'll be literally one floor away!"
"Yep, I'll be here for the entire year." Phineas smirked as he stood up and helped Isabella to her feet as well. "I'm supposed to have a roommate, but apparently no one has wanted this room yet, so I'm alone, at least for the time being. Apparently, it's right between the entryway and the floor bathroom, and since it's on the first floor, people can see in. I just figured I'd use my cone of silence and a one-way screen, both of which I can whip up before coming down here, and voila! Both issues, handled."
Isabella looked up at him, her eyes shining. "Can you believe it? 24 hours ago, I was leaving Danville for the foreseeable future without seeing you or speaking to you all summer. And now we're planning on being able to see each other every day once classes start!" She sniffed as she wiped her eyes. "Well, this is going to be an extremely long two weeks without you, even though I just spent two months without seeing you."
"But I wasn't your boyfriend at the time," Phineas said with a slightly devious grin on his face. Before Isabella could call him out on it, though, he spoke clearly into his phone. "Go to My House." And then he was gone, leaving a stunned Isabella by herself outside her dorm. She looked around for a second, tears forming in her eyes, when just as quickly Phineas appeared right next to her, their noses almost touching.
"Yikes! PHINEAS! How could you leave me so abruptly? I thought you had just gone without saying goodbye! But no, you just had to show off…" Isabella trailed off when she saw Phineas's grin still on his face and the implications of what he had just done hit her. "Oh my gosh, you can teleport from here to Danville and back in a few seconds…you can visit me here whenever you want these next two weeks!"
"Yes, yes I can." Phineas's smile threatened to split his face.
"Oh, you brilliant man, you," Isabella gushed as she tilted her face upward and planted her lips on Phineas's. He eagerly reciprocated the kiss, deepening it as he pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her lower back. She placed her hands around his neck and linked her fingers, never breaking the kiss. The world around them melted away to nothing, their entire focus on each other.
Finally, Phineas decided to break the kiss before they went too far. "As much as I would love to be here all night with you, I think you have something you need to get to, and I should get home for dinner," he whispered into Isabella's ear.
"Yeah, I guess so," she whispered back. "I do have the introductory student government meeting over dinner I should get to." She stepped back and released Phineas from her arms, already missing the feeling of him.
Phineas gazed at her again. "See ya."
Isabella laughed. "Whenever you can."
He smiled. "Tomorrow."
She grinned back. "I'll be waiting."
Without breaking his gaze, he spoke into his phone again, "Go to My House," and he silently disappeared.
Phineas materialized on the road again out in front of his house, 2308 Maple Drive, and he could see Ferb through the window of their shared bedroom. Ferb's eyes were wide, but he tossed Phineas a salute as he realized just what Phineas had done. Ah, Ferb, on the same wavelength again, as usual. Across the way, in front of 2307, he could see Vivian Garcia-Shapiro enter the yard in overalls with a trowel. Obviously on her way to do some yard work before dinner, she stopped short when she saw Phineas.
"Hola, Phineas, how did you get here so quickly? I thought you were down at Marshwood helping Isa move in and confirming your enrollment at Tri-State State?" she asked him, confused.
"Hi Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro. Yes, I was with her today, but since I went down with her and didn't want to force anyone else to make the two-and-a-half-hour drive one-way to come pick me up, I recreated an old teleportation device Ferb and I had made 10 years ago, so I could get back almost instantaneously," Phineas answered.
Vivian's eyes widened. "Wow, honey. I heard all the stories from Isa about what you had gotten up to all those summers, but seeing it firsthand just makes it so much more real." She walked over to the gate. "How was your day?"
"It went well," he replied. "I registered for classes, managed to actually get a few classes I'm interested in, even this late in the registration period. Also, I got set up with a dorm room in the same building as Isabella, one floor down and on the other end of the hallway from where her room is."
"Great!" Vivian said with a smile. "I know being with you will make her the happiest young woman in the Tri-State area, if not the world." She leaned over the gate and gestured Phineas to come closer, which he did. "Phineas, can you promise me something?" When he indicated he would, she continued. "Take care of Isabella for me. We both know she is a strong, independent woman, and she most likely won't need anyone, but just watch over her, and be there if something happens."
Phineas nodded, his eyes solemn. "I will, Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro. Isabella and I have been through so much together over the 14 years I've known her, and I'm hoping we can continue to do so as long as she'll have me."
Vivian's smile got bigger. "I'm sure if it's up to Isa it will be another 14 years at least. But listen to me, hijo," here Phineas blushed a little, which did not go unnoticed by Vivian, "and be sure to listen to her, as well as speak with her. If there's ever any doubt about something relating to the two of you, make sure you discuss it and be on the same page. Communication is key in every relationship."
"Thanks Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro," Phineas smiled as he relaxed a little. "Isabella and I actually made sure to discuss the topic this morning, because we were both sorry at each other when there was nothing to forgive, so we agreed to work on our communication and being outright with each other, since beating around the bush never worked for either of us before this. I can't promise it will always work, but I would sooner hurt myself then knowingly cause Isabella pain."
"Good to hear, Phineas. Be confident in your relationship, know she'll be there to listen if anything feels wrong to you, and do the same for her. It's all I can ask, and if you are able to do so you will make Isabella very happy," finished Vivian, before opening the gate and hugging Phineas. "Say hi to Linda for me, we still need to get with Mrs. Johnson and work on a new set for our next gig."
Phineas returned the hug before stepping back out of the Garcia-Shapiro yard. "Will do, and thanks for speaking with me." He headed back inside the Flynn-Fletcher house, Vivian watching him the entire way.
"If he stays the Phineas Flynn we all know and love, I'll be calling him mi yerno someday," she sighed, before returning to her yard work.
Phineas entered the garage and began tinkering with creating an automatic unpacking machine. Based on previous exploits, he could probably come up with the design in an hour, although the building part was much more Ferb's thing than his. It's why Ferb was studying nano-engineering at Camford-on-Oxbury, the best school in the world for his subject. While signing up for classes, he had decided he wanted to push the boundaries between theoretical and applied physics. And sure, the top research in physics was being done at the elite schools like Yalford or Hanceton Academy of Sciences, but he felt those schools would've been too stuffy for his taste. Between his personal choices, Tri-State State and Danville U both had good programs in physics, and besides, it only mattered where he got his Ph.D. from, which was still many years away. He had time to mature and grow as a student and as a person, and to explore his relationship with Isabella.
Isabella Garcia-Shapiro…what an amazingly interesting person, Phineas thought as he continued his work on the automatic unpacker semi-distractedly. As he worked, he replayed in his head as many of the memories he had while growing up of time spent with Isabella, and now he could see how much they both meant to each other. I really hope I didn't take her for granted back then, Phineas thought. I'll mention it to Isabella tomorrow, and if she has no qualms with my treatment then of course I'll drop the thought. Communication is healthy, respect is necessary, love is paramount.
Phineas ruminated on his relationship with Isabella throughout the rest of the night; even at dinner, he was uncharacteristically quiet and subdued, a fact not lost on Ferb. When Phineas finally looked his way, Ferb raised an eyebrow in question, but Phineas just shrugged it off and joined in the conversation his parents were having. Ferb nodded, but he wasn't entirely convinced Phineas was fine.
Going to sleep was almost worse for Phineas than the night before. He went to sleep early, claiming a late night from the day before and the long day down at Marshwood to prepare for classes. However, Phineas tossed and turned for a while, trying to find a comfortable position and to empty his mind of all the thoughts zooming around his head. When Ferb came in, Phineas stopped moving and pretended to already be asleep, which actually helped. When he finally did fall asleep, his dreams were plagued with incoherent situations where he was working alone in a dimly-lit office, his hair and clothes scraggly and unkempt, or walking along the front lines of a war zone, sick to his stomach at the first realizations of what his inventions could do in the wrong hands.
Then, his dream changed focus and became clearer. He was standing outside of Isabella's room, holding a single, dusky pink rose, matching her favorite shirt. She opened the door, eyes sparking with raw desire, and Phineas smiled as he hugged her, slipping the flower into her hair on the right side of her head.
"You look so beautiful, as always," Phineas said, and Isabella smiled as her eyes fluttered. She closed the door and took him by the hand, pulling him into the center of the room with her. She wrapped her arms around him and initiated a passionate kiss, slightly surprising Phineas who nevertheless eagerly reciprocated.
Soon, the two of them were out of breath and broke from each other to gasp for air. "Phineas," Isabella moaned. "I – I need you."
"I'm here, Isabella. Whatever you need, I'm here for you."
"No, Phineas, I meant something else." Isabella giggled and looked up at him through her long eyelashes. Phineas felt a slightly uncomfortable tightening in his pants as Isabella draped her body up against his.
Phineas stuttered out an "O-oh, OK," as Isabella began moving the two of them slowly towards her bed. He gasped as she nibbled on his neck lightly while standing at the edge of the bed, and he was completely surprised when she leaned backward and essentially fell on the bed, pulling him down with her. Laying over her body, he looked down at her. "I-is this what you wanted? Snuggling?" he asked her.
Isabella sighed and shook her head, still smiling. "Close. Here, let me show you EXACTLY what I meant…"
Phineas woke up with a gasp, throwing the sheets from his uncomfortably warm body as he tried to both analyze the dream and also remove it from his conscious mind. OK, definitely the most intense dream I've had about…THAT, ever. And now Isabella and I are together…could I see it happening in real life? NO, stop it! Stop thinking about it. Just wait out tonight and ask her tomorrow.
Realizing he was way too hot and bothered to go back to sleep immediately, as well as thirsty, Phineas grabbed his phone to provide enough light to see and plodded downstairs to get a glass of cold water from the refrigerator. However, when he was putting the glass in the dishwasher, he heard a set of quiet thumps coming from out in the backyard. Reflexively, Phineas looked around for Perry, but then he remembered seeing the monotreme sleeping on Ferb's bed when he left his bedroom.
Cautiously, Phineas walked over to the door leading to his backyard and peeked out the window. There was a small shape beckoning him to come outside. Odd. It looks like it could possibly be an O.W.C.A. agent, since it looks like a fedora on his head. But what would he want with me, now?
Finally, Phineas's curiosity outweighed his suspicions, so he slipped on his shoes he had left outside the garage last night, opened the back door, and walked outside. As he got closer to the shape, it revealed itself to be a small panda wearing a fedora, currently with his back turned to him. Oh, right, I remember seeing this agent on the day we fought Dr. D from the other dimension, he knows Perry and our Dr. D. "Hey there, buddy, is there something wrong? Do you need me or Agent P?"
The panda turned around, and Phineas only managed to widen his eyes at the metallic body parts replacing a good third of the panda's body before the…thing, which was no longer just a panda, jumped at him. Phineas felt suddenly light-headed as the world melted away from him, and he fell to the ground as Peter the Pandaborg stood over him, holding his fingers in the Vulcan nerve-pinch grip.
Taking out and unfolding a large black bag, Peter the Pandaborg wrapped Phineas in it before pushing it into Agent P's tree lair entrance. As expected, the lair was deserted, since it was the middle of the night, and there were no alarms indicating any untoward presence. Peter the Pandaborg smiled, although it was hard to see on his seemingly-expressionless face. O.W.C.A. here was too complacent, he had disabled all security checkpoints with his outdated O.W.C.A. credentials from the other dimension. It had been almost painfully easy for him to take out Phineas.
He placed the bag in one of Agent P's hovercars and took off into the night, heading back to the Danville Megastation Power Plant, which only took a few minutes as the crow flies. Opening up his wrist communicator on site, Peter the Pandaborg was met with a quietly frantic Tony Marzulo. Angling the camera and unzipping the bag slightly, he showed Tony the unconscious Phineas in the car.
"Great job Peter the Pandaborg! I'll open up the portal now, but be aware, you're going to have to be quick!" As he said this, a bright green portal opened up, with alarms blaring through it again. Peter the Pandaborg quickly jumped back into the hovercar and zoomed through the portal, blasting out of the window Tony Marzulo had opened and into the artificially-enhanced darkness.
The portal closed again of its own accord, still too unstable if created in their dimension to be used for more than one trip, and the lights around the city blinked back on as the power drain caused by the device stopped. Tony grabbed the device, shoved it in his toolbox, and quickly exited the room via a back exit he had noticed. Sneaking around the facility, he managed to make it to his car and gunned it, leaving the power station behind as he navigated his way back out of Danville.
The security guard ran into the room again a few moments later, only to stop and stare confusedly at the area around him, as all of the city lights were on again, but this time the electrical technician was nowhere in sight. Grumbling to himself, he turned around and locked the door.