A/N: Welcome back everyone! Note: this is the second to last chapter! Can you believe it? I can't!
Finals end this week so wish me luck! Thanks to everyone who has read, enjoyed, and stuck with this story for so long. Yall are the real MVPs. I love you all. As always, please read, review, and enjoy!
Phineas made it to the music room and threw his bag on the floor. His insides were bubbling uncomfortably from the unexpected anger at his encounter with Buford.
I was just joking, y'know?
"You don't just joke about things like that!" Phineas had wanted to yell. But it was too late. And he knew he wouldn't be able to say something like that calmly when he and Buford finally talked things out. He grabbed his guitar and started tuning it. Dang it, he had actually been looking forward to getting lunch today.
There was a knock at the door. Grace peeked in.
"Hey. You okay?"
Phineas just strummed a chord in response and didn't look up. Grace sighed. "Can I come in?" Phineas nodded.
She set a plate with a slice of pizza and some carrots on it in front of him. "What happened?" she asked.
"I talked to Buford," he sighed. "And it didn't go too well." He briefly recounted their conversation and picked up a carrot to munch on it angrily. "I want to talk things out with him, but I don't even know how! I hate feeling angry," he muttered. Grace nodded, wishing she knew how to help.
"I'm sorry Phineas. You guys… used to be really good friends, right?" Phineas nodded.
"Yeah. And I know that we could be- will be again, but-"
"But he's gotta know that that's not okay."
"Exactly."
They ate in silence for a minute, mulling the whole situation over, and were taken by surprise when the door opened. It was the band teacher, who poked his head in and then spoke to someone outside the door. The door opened wider and there was Buford.
Phineas felt the righteous anger in his chest flare, but took a deep breath.
"Phineas, can I talk to you?"
He gave a stiff nod. "Sure." Grace glanced at him worriedly as he wheeled out to the hallway, but he tried to give her a reassuring grin; this would go well- it had to.
The door had scarcely closed when Buford began to speak.
"Phineas, I am so, so sorry. I didn't know I was hurting you. And I didn't know how badly the others were hurting you too. If I had known, I woulda-," he clenched his fists and looked away, shaking his head, "Gah, I wouldn't have let 'em that's for sure."
He lifted his eyes to meet Phineas's. "I shouldn't have joked about it- any of it. And I'm sorry, I'm sorry I made you feel like you had to, like you had-" He paused. "Like you had no way out," he finished quietly. "You're the best person I know Phineas. You don't deserve to feel like that. And I know I've been a total jerk, but I'm here for you Phineas. I'm still your friend- if you want me to be."
Phineas blinked. He certainly hadn't been expecting that. But it had done the trick: his anger was gone and replaced with a feeling of relief.
"I forgive you Buford. And I still want to be your friend, even if I can't build really cool things anymore- for now in any case-" Buford was shaking his head.
"That was a really stupid thing of me to say. You're a great friend Phineas, no matter what. And the next time I start acting like a jerk, call me out on it, 'kay? I mean, obviously, I'll try not to be, but if I do, ya gotta tell me."
"I-" But he could see Buford was serious. "Ok. Sure thing Buford." Phineas smiled, feeling great after getting this weight off his chest. "You still coming to Isabella's tonight?"
"Wouldn't miss it! You two comin'?"
"Yup. Looking forward to it. Hey, wanna spend the rest of lunch with me and Grace? We usually just hang out here." Now it was Buford's turn to be taken aback.
"Are you sure? I don't hafta-"
"Of course. Come on!"
Grace, sensing Phineas's mood shift, warmed up to Buford pretty quickly and the rest of lunch period was great. Cooper and Bryant didn't cause any trouble during robotics, probably due to Buford's telling them off, and before they knew it, the school day was over.
Phineas met Ferb out front and the two of them walked home.
"Did you talk to Buford?" Ferb asked. Phineas nodded.
"Yep. We're good now. He realized what was going on and apologized for it and," Phineas shrugged, a smile on his face. "That's that. We're good now." Ferb nodded, a small smile on his own face, glad that he wouldn't have to beat Buford up after Isabella's party.
"Hi boys!" their mom called from the kitchen as they came in the front door. "How was school?"
"Great!" Phineas called and he was surprised to realize he meant it.
They managed to finish their homework (and some more engineering practice problems for Phineas) before dinner. It felt great to have a whole open weekend before them with nothing to worry about. Winter break was coming up in a few weeks so they weren't surprised at the few snowflakes drifting down as they made their way across the street to Isabella's after dinner.
"Hey guys!" she called. "Come on in!" She held the door for them and then took their coats before running back and pulling Phineas into a hug. "How are you guys?"
"We're good. Really good," he replied.
They greeted Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro who immediately offered them snacks and began rambling on. Isabella smiled patiently and gently herded them into the living room where the other two were waiting.
"Hey guys!" Phineas called.
"Hello!"
"Sup nerds."
"Ok," Isabella said. "I've got Sorry, Scrabble, Life, Twister, Uno-"
"Uno!" nearly everybody cried.
"And we have a winner! Ferb, care to deal?"
After a particularly flashy display of his card shuffling skills, the game began in earnest. Isabella proudly beat them all the first two rounds, followed by Baljeet, and then Ferb before they moved on to Sorry. It was a night full of laughter, shenanigans, made up rules, mixed up teams, gentle ribbing, bad jokes, and friendly competition. In short, it was exactly what they had all been missing.
"We need to do this more," Buford said as they finished cleaning up.
"Agreed," Ferb said.
"For sure! Thanks for coming guys," Isabella said. "It was a lot of fun!"
They delayed as long as they could, but eventually they all made their way outside to head home, but stopped in the middle of the yard to stare up at the sky. The snow had stopped and the sky was clear and cold, and just filled with dazzling stars.
"Stargazing and hot chocolate?" Phineas offered, continuing to stare up. "Sunday at our place?"
The others nodded mutely, gentle smiles on their faces. Finally bidding goodbye, the two brothers headed home. Candace was in her room talking to Stacy on the phone and their parents were out on a date.
"Sleepover?" Ferb asked. Phineas nodded. The two rushed to get ready and reunited in Phineas's room, bouncing on the bed amidst a million blankets. Ferb wanted to stay up and read for a bit and Phineas was more than fine with that as he sat propped up against the headboard fiddling with some little doodad.
Ferb glanced up to check the time and instead spotted Phineas grinning widely at his little contraption, a little robot frog that was ribbitting and bouncing around the bed.
Everything was on its way to turning out okay.
A/N: Have you guys heard the song Turning Out by AJR? Great song. Thanks for reading!