Well, this has been sitting around forever. I'm trying to get a chapter for my other story up this week too.

"Phineas is in love with Mishti."

Of… of course he was. Of course he was. One thing after another, we all had seen it. Of course he was. Phineas had been falling and falling for this girl, maybe even from the minute he saw her; how would we know? And now, she was going to leave him before he even really realized it.

"Alright," Baljeet announced. "We only have five extra seats to go in the taxi to the airport, ok? And I am definitely coming!"

"Of course you are!" Mishti gave him a small hug.

"I, fuuuuu-" Ginger was fuming, but she brushed some hair out her face and took a small breath. "Bye Mishti. Bye. I'm glad you came. Honestly. You opened my eyes." She glared at Baljeet and he glared back. "And the girls had fun with you."

"Oh!" Oblivious Mishti hugged her. "Bye Ginger."

"I wanna go!" Wynne cried.

"No, me!" Milly cried. All the girls started fighting.

"Mishti, you are the coolest AND hottest girl in the world!" Kyle fist-bumped her.

"Yeah, what he said." Buford hugged her.

"Aww, boys."

"Let me take one more picture of you!" Irving cried.

"Bye Mr. Fletcher!" Mishti giggled. I hugged her. "Now, you take good care of Isabella!" I smiled and nodded. Those two had become instant friends.

"Oh Isabella!" Mishti hugged her. "Come with me to the airport!"

"Of course!" She said.

"Take me!" Katie yelled.

"NO!" Holly cried.

"Mishti, do you have everything?" Baljeet asked.

"Umm, where's Phineas?" She asked, looking around. Suddenly, we all noticed he wasn't there.

"Um, he went home, Mishti." Isabella said softly.

"Oh." She said blankly. "He went home. Right. Okay."

SHIT. I was suddenly filled with a feeling I hadn't felt in months. Anger. Anger towards Phineas. That same anger I felt when I saw Isabella crying in front of our door. The anger I got every time he had made Isabella cry. Phineas Flynn was a motherfucking heartbreaker. But this time… this time… He might have done it on purpose. I couldn't believe it. She looked so sad, but she was obviously trying to hide it from everyone. Why would he just walk out on her like that? Without telling her anything? It was so unlike him. It had to just be… too painful.

The van ended up being Baljeet, Isabella, Mishti, and some of the girls. Mishti seemed very upset that Phineas hadn't come with them, and that he had left early, and of course she would be. They were making Isabella and I look like we had the easiest love story in the world. Goddamn Phineas. Couldn't you have just said good-bye to her? He probably wasn't going to see her ever again. I can't imagine Baljeet ever letting him hang out with her if she came over, and even if he did, it could take another fifteen something years or more.

"Can I come hang out with you?" Buford asked me sleepily. I nodded. "I can't believe these two have turned from nerds to assholes." He shook his head. He was right. It was mean of Baljeet to purposely flirt with Mishti in front of Phineas and Ginger… and how could Phineas have left Mishti without telling her goodbye? I didn't even see him talk to her the whole party.

I opened the door and saw Phineas sitting on the couch with a glass of what looked to be vodka in his hand, looking miserable.

"NO! No, no, no, no!" I grabbed it from him. We didn't need any more Drunk Phineas escapades.

"Relax. It's my first glass. I've had like one sip." He said.

"Dinnerbell, you're a fucking wreck." Buford said, sitting down next to him.

"I know!" Phineas exclaimed. "God! What is wrong with me?" You're in love. "What is wrong with me?" He repeated. "Mishti's right. I'll never get my head out of the clouds. And I'll never be anything other than… than the stupid sweet boy. And now… she's just… Mishti's gone."

"Phineas, how could you let Mishti leave without saying goodbye?" I said softly.

"I don't know…" He moaned. "I mean, she doesn't care. We aren't… we're not…"

"Blah blah… Remember, you're friends." Buford pointed out. "That's literally the first part of 'friends-with-benefits'. Would you have let any of us flown away without saying goodbye? You might never see her again. Shrimpy might make sure of that."

"Ohhh…" Phineas looked like he might start crying. "No. NO." He grabbed his cell phone as fast as possible. "Mishti… pick up… she's not picking up… why isn't she picking up!?"

"Probably because she has caller id, and knows it's you, and knows you're an ass." Buford stated.

"You're right!" He hung up and called a different number. "Give the phone to Mishti… Give it to her… Yeah, yeah, apology accepted, Isabella, give it to her… GIVE THE FUCKING PHONE TO MISHTI!"

That was such a "Get on the trike!" moment Buford and I could only stare. He was totally having a breakdown. We had never, ever, heard Phineas drop the F-bomb, ever!

"Oh, Mishti…" He whimpered. "Oh my god, I am so sorry I didn't say goodbye to you. And that I left your party. And didn't come with you to the airport. Everything… Of course you are, you didn't answer when I called you… No, Mishti, no!" He sounded like he was in pain. "Oh my god, I know, I'm an idiot! Everyone calls me an idiot! Can I say bye now? Can I say I'll miss you now? Because I will… Ohhh. You knew this kind of thing was going to happen all along, didn't you? You know exactly how bad I am at, you know," He gestured in the air to nothing. "This… Oh, Mishti… ok, bye, bye, I'll miss you, we'll all miss you, but I'll miss you, I'll call you all the time!"

Phineas collapsed back down after that phone call. He still looked like he was going to cry. "Oh no… Ferb, I think I'm… I might be…"

"Yup." Buford nodded. "You idiot."

"I love Mishti? I'm in love with Mishti?" He asked weakly. He rubbed his temples. "I… I love her!" He groaned.

"I know, mate, I know." I sighed.

"You know?" He stared. "How can you know? I didn't even know!"

"It was… kind of obvious, Phineas." Buford said.

"Obvious?"

I sat down on another chair. "Everyone thought you either loved Isabella… or you just couldn't love anyone ever."

"Um, ok." He frowned. "That's kind of mean."

"Yeah." I agreed. "After you broke up with Bella, I figured we just had to wait until the right girl came along to light the fire. I mean, no one ever thought it would be…"

"Oh!" Phineas fell face down into the couch. "Yeah, this friends-with-benefits thing is really really bad."

I just barely laughed. "I know."

"And," Buford said. "It's vodka time, boys."

I really don't think anyone expected it to happen, but I think we all got depressed after Mishti left. It was like… suddenly the brightest light on the chandelier had gone out. You could still see, but it was just not as nice. The girls; Holly, Katie, Milly, Gretchen, and Wynne, were heartbroken. They had actually been in tears at points. They loved Mishti. She was so fashionable and fun; they adored her. Even Isabella had been. Isabella, despite, all the spying and the plain… weirdness… that had been going on the past few weeks, had really bonded with Mishti. She was going to miss her a lot, I could tell.

There were two girls who didn't care. Adyson wasn't really upset. I think the problem there was timing. Adyson had her heart set on a man, and Mishti slept with him. That sounds like a catty female problem, but Adyson didn't care either way that Mishti was gone. And… Ginger was never going to like Mishti. I just can't see that happening. Mishti leaving seemed to be taking a small weight off of Ginger's shoulders.

And the guys were crushed as well. We missed her stories, we missed how she could she beat us at almost everything, and how she brought life to the room. Mishti's giggle is everybody's favorite sound. And, um, we all… appreciate… her appearance. But, of course, of the guys, there were the two that her leaving bothered the most, depressed the most, of the entire group. And they were, of course, Baljeet and Phineas. I can completely understand why… I had been in their shoes. Mishti was… their Isabella. I mean, she was Baljeet's best friend who grew up with him, confided in him, hung out with him… and chose Phineas. She was Phineas' friend-with-benefits… all they had wanted to do was stay friends, and he had accidentally fallen helplessly in love with her, even though he knew she "belonged" to his best friend. Just when we thought Mishti and Isabella couldn't have more in common.

Baljeet had, he had… ok, well, he had turned into a huge dick! I mean, god! It just kept getting worse! It was one thing when he and Ginger just kept fighting, then he and Phineas, then he started flirting with Mishti right in front of them, but now he was just acting awful to everyone! I had NO clue what was wrong with him. Was he regretting not making a move with Mishti? Did he want to get back together with Ginger? Did he miss Phineas? Ok, that one was definitely true. I never thought Phineas and Baljeet of all people would stop talking to each other for this long. They were best friends! They had always been best friends! I know people might say I'm Phineas' best friend, and I mean, it's true, but really, we're family, I'm his brother. And while Buford and Baljeet are really really close, Buford is Baljeet's "bully", and mine and Phineas' too, really, even if he is our friend. Baljeet is Phineas' best friend, since they were really little. And to be fighting over a girl? A girl? Baljeet and Phineas didn't get girls! They never, ever got girls! Ok, yeah, so Ginger and Isabella had chased a lot of girls away, but still! They were nerds, they were geeks, they didn't have cool bones in them. That might be the reason why they were best friends. How could they think a girl was more important than each other!? Isabella and I almost gave up each other for Phineas… we almost gave up each other for EACH OTHER, that's how important our friendships were. Yes, the girl we were speaking of was Mishti… and that girl was quite possibly an Indian goddess who had snuck down from the clouds to Danville pretending to be coming from the airport, but they were idiots if they thought it was worth risking their friendship for her, when she had made it excruciatingly clear she didn't want to be with anyone. Something only Phineas didn't seem to want to accept.

As for Phineas, fuck, I was really worried about him. So was Isabella. So was… everybody! He was acting like I had been when Isabella and I were apart, and now I realize why he was so upset and worried back then. It was damn terrifying. I had literally no idea if he was eating or sleeping or… breathing. He would spend most of his day locked up in his room in his bed. He had no plans or ideas or anything. Maybe, just maybe, for a small amount of time a day he would leave the room for just water or to go the bathroom or something, and Bella and I would catch a glimpse of him. His face just looked… bitter. This wasn't the love story Phineas wanted to be in. He wanted to rescue the princess, or be the star-crossed lovers, or something else stupid and over-the-top, and Phineas-y. He didn't want the girl to just… go home. Like playing with his heart had been another day in the backyard, and now it was time for everyone to go back to their own beds.

"Ferb," Isabella covered her face. "I ruined everything."

I gave her a look. Yet again, Isabella's world revolves around Isabella. Everyone but Isabella only blamed Mishti Patel for causing the group chaos, but Isabella was convinced that she had done something to mess everything up; matchmaking everyone, giving out bad advice to Ginger, and Baljeet, and Phineas, and Mishti, and for somehow failing to stop this before it even started.

"I'm serious, Ferb." She said determinedly. "And Phineas was convinced he could fix it. I have to talk to him."

"Isabella," I said cautiously. "I'm not sure if he's in the mood for that."

"Ferb," She said, opening the door to the apartment. "He can't be THAT bad. Ginger and Baljeet might not be over each other, but they aren't hopelessly depressed."

"I'm worried that that may not be the case here." I replied. I followed her nevertheless, as she opened the door to his bedroom.

"Phineas?" We peered into the dark room.

"Ughhh." He was a pile of dead blankets. "Leave me alone, Ferb!"

"You didn't leave me when I was heartbroken." I said softly.

"What?"

I didn't say anything. It would be wrong of me to assume Phineas felt the same way about Mishti that I did about Isabella just because they were in a similar situation… but… I knew by now, Phineas was helplessly in love with Mishti.

"That's it." Isabella said. She aggressively turned the lights on. Phineas was lying in bed, flat on his face. "Phineas, you need to get up." She walked over and started tugging at an arm.

"Noooo." He dully whined. Everything was a little muffled.

"Don't you want to… do something?" She asked loudly. "Anything? Besides lie on your face in bed in the dark?" She was trying to spark an idea.

He turned a little towards her so she could hear him. "No, no I don't." He replied. "I think today is a good day to lie in the dark. And tomorrow. And the next day. And the next day." And he turned back.

"What is wrong with you?" She exclaimed. "I've never seen you like this before. Ok, so… so Mishti left." She sighed. Phineas lifted the pillow he had been lying on and covered his head with it. "PHINEAS! I get it, she left, you're upset, but you can't throw a tantrum like you're three, ok? She was going to leave no matter what, Phineas!" Isabella seemed to be getting more and more frustrated. "Phineas, ok, I'm not fucking oblivious like you! I know exactly how you feel about Mishti! I know EXACTLY how you feel! But, you know what? You know what? You need to learn, just like all of us, me, and Ferb, and Buford, and Baljeet, and Adyson, and Ginger, and everyone else who's ever had a bad breakup or an unrequited love… to fucking SUCK IT UP! Just build a bridge and get the fuck over it! This is your fault, Phineas! You could have had hundreds of girls! I loved you for half my life! Gretchen was a great match for you! Adyson was throwing herself at you! All throughout middle school, and high school, and college, and now, in our twenties, everyone wanted brilliant little Phineas, and you never gave any of us the fucking time of day! And now, when you finally require those 'biological needs' you convinced everyone you didn't have provided, you pick the one girl who A) has romantic connections with your best friend, B) clearly only thinks of you as a friend, and C) lives as FUCKING FAR AWAY AS POSSIBLE! Great work, Phineas, great work!" She huffed and left the room. Jesus.

Phineas just barely lifted his head. "Great. Is she going to kick my ass now, too?"