This is the part where I neglect to tell you about how we made the gigantic trampoline and how fun it was playing on it, and skip to the end of the day. I was lounging under the tree, Phineas to my right and Ferb to my left and we were snacking on some chocolate flavoured yogurt pops or something. They were delicious. Don't get me wrong. Phineas let out a long sigh as he lapped his lips clean of the cocoa residue, "That was great!" he cheered and I giggled, "The yogurt pop or the recoil device?" I gestured to him in a mocking manner. He gave me a small smile and sighed again, "All of it! It was a great day." "As per usual." I added.
Phineas leaned over me to nudge Ferb and I froze up, waiting for my stomach to go into a frenzy of butterflies and flips. "It was pretty awesome having you help out Isabella, like old times, you know?" I hummed, holding the front of my shirt; it had been quite a while since we've done something crazy like that together. "I should visit more often." I smiled glancing at Ferb, who was picking and peeling at his popsicle stick, brilliantly transforming it into a piece of artwork. Phineas nodded and smiled gathering his wrapper and taking mine from my lap, "I'll throw these out, be back in a flash." he said in his usual chipper manner, already half-way to the house. And silence fell between me and the step-brother. I couldn't help play with the wrinkles on my shirt, flattening and pulling apart ripples in the fabric as I held my stomach.
Still no butterflies.
"How can you tell if you still love someone?" The question obviously took Ferb off-guard as his entire body tensed up and he slowly turned to give me a confusion riddled expression. I kept my eyes down at my shirt; my cheeks became warm as I felt his eyes on me. Ferb had this wonderful talent of reading people, it made it easier for him to avoid speaking and easier for people to avoid telling the full truth. So in the few seconds he took to examine my disposition he understood the situation.
"There is a difference between being fond of and loving someone." He stated matter-of-factly, I glanced up at him and he had moved to a more guarding position, his knees to his chest and eyes avoiding any contact with mine. "Do you love someone Ferb?" He turned his head away completely, so I couldn't even read a part of his expression. Not that I could either way. But I can read body language.
"Ferb?"
Not to brag, but I'm a girl and I know these things, and even though Ferb thought he was being mysterious. Everything he was doing screamed "Yes!".
A small smile tugged on my lips as Phineas moseyed back over to the tree. "Wanna make a camp fire?" He grinned.
xxxxx
I think it was about 10PM, I was perched on a log, the palms of my hands spread out and leaning forward to absorb heat from the fire. Phineas was across from me, explaining some ideas for future projects, throwing his hands about in that dramatic way when he gets excited. He babbled on and on and on for about an hour now, and to be all fair and honest, I was getting a little bored. Ferb was sitting on the ground next to me; he had been roasting marshmallows in silence, looking very intently at the browning sugar treat. His brows were pulled together and his mouth was tightened into a thin line, it was kind of cute how serious he was about these marsh-
"Isabella?" Ferb glanced up at me and I blushed, I was staring at him.
Second time today. Great. I looked up to Phineas who repeated my name once again in a more worried manner, "Isabella? You okay?" he tilted his head, lowering his hands. I paused. "Oh! Yeah! I was just…"
Think Shapiro!
"Envisioning the magnitude and awesomeness of ..?" I gave him an innocent grin, and for the first time, Phineas' oblivious demeanor had leaned into my favour as he replied with: "It'll be cool right?" And continued once again to ramble away.
Ferb's unmistakable chuckle rang through my ears and I tilted my head slightly in his direction. Ferb didn't speak much, or did much of anything when it came to human contact. He was brilliant and talented, but he kept it all to himself. But, there were those times, like now, when he'd let a bit of him show. It's like seeing a comet that only comes once every thirty-three some odd years. It's rare and... I might as well admit, amazing and uh, beautiful. His lips turned up into a wide smile letting his teeth show, and his eyes shut, trying to hold back some fit of ridiculous laughter.
Not to mention how melodious his voice was in general. That is, when he even bothered to speak. So, it really didn't bug me when I realized I was the one he was laughing at. All I could do was blush and look down at my lap, fiddling with my sweater's sleeve cuff. "That's when we'll get some sheet rock and apply it to the base, what do you think?" I guess Phineas came to a conclusion. "Sounds very interesting." I replied vaguely, leaning forward to rest an elbow on my thigh, making piano fingers on my right cheek.
I smiled at Ferb who only smirked a little as if it was not a mutual inside joke to totally ignore his brother. Phineas grinned, leaning back a little to gaze up at the stars. I watched him and waited for him to begin again, but he remained silent and I shifted to tug my skirt down a little. It was a beautiful Spring night, Summer was approaching fast. I bet both they're minds are racing with ideas and plans and lists.
Phineas let out a yawn before slowly making his way to his feet, "I'm falling fast, guys… I'm gonna turn in." I was waiting for the 10 year old Isabella in the back of my mind to scream and cry for wasting another perfect moment. But, I was completely unfazed and smiled, giving him a casual goodnight. "Ferb… Will you take care of the fire?" He asked sheepishly and Ferb just nodded in reply. "I'll make sure he does the job." I added teasingly and Phineas laughed as he headed inside. And as soon as the back door clicked shut, Ferb stood and walked to sit where Phineas had once been. I barely glanced up, fiddling away at my sleeve attentively. I couldn't help feeling a little weird around Ferb… Alone, I mean.
"You're having second thoughts on your feelings towards Phineas." Not to mention those "x-ray eyes".
I shot my head up and stumbled over my words on what to comeback with. "I-How'd you-? He's-! Ferb… The- Er… Very thing I live… For?" He gave me a disbelieving look and rolled his eyes a little. It was his way of saying "Suuuuuuure."
I was beat.
To Ferb I was just plastic wrap and he saw right through me, he saw that- "You've been battling the thought for quite a while now, hm?" There he goes again. I was a little awe-struck. I really didn't know what to say.
So I didn't.
He watched my face scrunch up in an uneasy, I-don't-know-what-to-do kind of way. We sat together in a long silence, watching the red and orange ribbons slowly die down into ashes, hiding from starlight. "I was just- He was my first crush, you know?" He wouldn't, Ferb likes girls.
"And I was so set on, like, marrying him and all that. It's hard to just let all that go." He smiled. Whatever that smile said, it was right. I wasn't a little girl anymore and I had to grow-up at some point. This is the part where I fill you in on my underlying thoughts that I have neglected to mention up until now.
I think I have fallen out of love with Phineas Flynn.
Right now, since I have come to this conclusion, it's not that big of a deal. It's just weird, seeing him as like, a friend and nothing more. I think it makes our time together a lot more enjoyable and I don't feel heart broken 100% of the time. I laughed and Ferb watched me a little confused. "I guess it's time to move forward, huh?" He simply nodded. "Take care of Pinky, work on my cooking and my homework-" I froze.
My homework!
"Crapcrapcrapcrap!" Ferb blinked, I was being a little completely all over the place and it must have been a might confusing for him. I patted out my skirt as I stood up rambling to myself before looking to Ferb, who had begun standing with me, ready to help in any sort of way, a small growing fear as if I was going to have a seizure over my sudden outburst. "Sorry, Ferb, I have that history thing to do, jeez! What was I thinking? I should have finished before I-" "I can help." He stated bluntly, at this point I was paces away from the gate and I turned back to look at him, he was obviously a bit embarrassed and fiddled a little shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Huh?" I replied dumbly, he tilted his head a little and gave me this confident look. "Help. I can." As if reversing the sentence would make me understand better. I stood quietly for a moment, I shouldn't have spent the day slacking off and now I have left it for tomorrow. It's was highly irresponsible of me.
What would be more irresponsible of me would be bringing Ferb into my mess.
And I'm probably overreacting here. Stop me at any time.
He took a small step closer and watched my disposition switch from thoughtful to enraged and he looked at me with worried eyes. "It's okay, Ferb, I can do it on my own." My voice cracked, making me sound more pleading than I had hoped and he frowned. "What?" Ferb rolled his eyes and put a hand on my shoulder leading me out the front yard. I chuckled shyly, "Heh, thanks for walking me-" "I'll be over with some books in about ten minutes." My eyes almost popped out of my head. "What?" I replied, completely lost, he gave me this Ferb look and I scoffed. "No, no no, I don't need you're help." I waved a finger in front of his face and he furrowed his brow unimpressed. But, with the utmost patience at my stubborn response, he reached up and took my hand, lowering it from his face as he flashed me a sly smile.
There was no way I was getting out of this.
Ferb turned swiftly on his heel and trotted back behind the gate, off to put out the camp fire and alert Phineas of the change of events. I huffed to myself crossing my arms over my chest, trudging back across the street to my house.