Chapter Text
Isabella’s heart was destroyed. The love of her life rejected her, and her best friend encouraged her to go through with it. She cried on her bed with her door locked, making her want to sing a depressing musical number about what could have been. So she grabbed her acoustic guitar, before playing a soft melody.
(Musical number goes here.)
A couple of minutes after Isabella's breakdown, she went downstairs, and then she saw her mom wiping tears, with Phineas comforting her. She starts to sob again, before holding back her tears just enough to join them at the table.
“Isabella, I know this isn’t the right time to ask, but what do you plan on doing now?” Phineas finishes his statement as he and Vivian direct their attention to Isabella with a hybrid of interest and quizzical glances. Isabella hesitates, unsure of how to answer. This wasn't something a handbook could answer, or something practiced in protocol drills — and that made her panic.
“I might— I might try to move on until I can recover from today… Why?” Isabella answered half-heartedly, as Phineas gave her a long, comforting hug. “Because I want to support you every step of the way, until you can find someone to call your own. You shouldn’t go through this alone, and as your best friend I’ll make sure you don’t.” Vivian smiles warmly, as she goes to the kitchen to make tea. She knows Isabella's gonna fall for Phineas — it's only a matter of time.
“Why don’t you two start on that now? It’s only 3:43 PM, so you two have time! Phineas, I’ll call your mom and let her know, okay?” The teen eagerly nods, before his smile beams. Isabella looked at Phineas with an incredulous look on her face before feeling a surge of electricity shoot through her chest. It was strange, but she disregarded it. She got rejected today. There’s no way she could’ve gotten feelings this fast! Maybe it reminded her of Ferb!
After Phineas and Isabella had their rendezvous, they met across the street at Phineas's house.
“Okay Isabella, it is 4:18 PM, so we only have 7 hours, 42 minutes, and 28 seconds left of the day. Should we plan this out, or should we do whatever?” Phineas glances at Isabella, who listens carefully with a slight blush tinting her cheeks. “We can take a walk through the park at 4:40 since it’s a 22-minute walk, get some food at 4:45, then have a picnic at 4:50; 5:00 at the latest. After that, we can go to the movie theater and see the new Space Adventure movie, which is 1:42:37 in length according to the Space Adventure website. We should be there until 6:32 or 6:42. Then, we will walk back home from the theater, which should be a 15-minute walk. Maybe we could have a sleepover, with some extra arrangements. My house, of course.”
Phineas shoots up, overenthusiastically stretching, before helping Isabella stand. “Well then Ms. Preparation, let’s get moving!” Isabella peered at him, taken aback by his balderdash. “Ms… Preparation? That’s so stupid.” Isabella facepalms, as Phineas chirps back. “I thought it was good.”
Phineas and Isabella walk to the park, making little to no conversation; with the latter flashing glances at the former, before catching herself. She ends up questioning the looks, but continuously denying them as signs of any intimate connection. Phineas, on the other hand, is enjoying the city's ambience while studying Isabella to see if she is okay. It was a fruitless gesture, sure — but it was a kind thing for Phineas to do, so he did it.
When they reached the park, they sat on a bench, as Phineas gazed at Isabella. “Hey, Isa?” Isabella redirected her attention to him, giving him an inquisitive stare. “I just wanna apologize for today not going as planned. I thought you and Ferb were made for each other, but it didn’t turn out well.” Isabella's face became downcast, before lighting up with a slightly devious expression. She then grabbed a nearby set of sticks and formed them into an equilateral triangle. “This is you,” Isabella said, before snapping the sticks. “This is you if you mention that again.” She and Phineas knew she was joking, but Phineas still decided to test the waters. “What if I do, Ms. Control Freak?” Isabella smirked before using a jump rope to tie his body up, also flicking his nose. “Then that’ll happen.”
“Okay, okay, point taken. Lemme check the time, just to make sure we’re on schedule.” The girl unties him, as he proceeds to check his watch. “It’s 17:00 (5:00 PM). Let’s get something to eat, Bella.” Phineas's smugness becomes a dubious chuckle, as he counts from 3 on his fingers. “What did you call me?” Isabella grabbed her jump rope with a blush that engulfed her cheeks and a smile smeared across her face. “Dude, are you blushing?” Phineas satirized Isabella with a sly grin that stretched across his visage. “Phineas, shut up — I told you not to call me that anyway!” The Man With a Plan™ makes the incredible decision to lightly pester Isabella, as he pokes her spine, before dashing to a nearby food vendor. “PHINEAS, GET BACK HERE!"
After a bit of a chase, Phineas gets caught by Isabella, who ties him with her jump rope. “Phineas, you’re an idiot. A lovable one, yes — but you’re still an idiot.” “So you love me?” His reply was extremely hasty — a haste that caught Isabella off guard. He was teasing — but it was slightly hopeful, as he did have a crush on her when they were younger. A rosy flush spread across his cheeks as he tried to cover up his words, albeit awkwardly. “Haha, I’m just kidding! I’d never hope you have a crush on me! If you do — I’m not opposed to it but that’s never gonna happen!” Isabella perused Phineas, watching the freckles sprinkled across his visage become a wondrously pulchritudinous shade of crimson. “Isabella?” Phineas called out to his companion, who instinctively started attentively listening.
“Oh shit, sorry. What's up?” “We need to go. The movie's around its starting time.” Isabella checks her phone and sees that it is 5:05. Phineas picks her up into a princess carry, causing both of them to blush, with Phineas's idiocy being the one to make the situation worse. “Ready to go, m'lady?” Isabella gets even redder, before getting down from Phineas's arms. It tears her soul, sure — but she is in absolute denial of having feelings for him, and she wants to keep it like that. “Fine, but you are NOT carrying me.”
Fast forward to them in the theater, as Phineas carries popcorn, candy, and snacks. Isabella is holding their tickets, as they sit down in the theatre. The screen is just playing trailers and other boring stuff that neither Isa nor Phineas actually cares about.
During the movie, Isabella is paying more attention to Phineas than to the movie. But she did still understand the basic plot and what was happening, but nevertheless, she was falling for Phineas — and hard. Every time he reached for popcorn, his attentive gaze towards the screen, his smile whenever seeing his favorite character, his admiration towards the special effects, the sparkle of his eyes, his glowing, radiant smile — it made her heart flutter, and it made her soul burn with passion. At that very moment, she realized that she was in love with Phineas Flynn. She didn't want to fall in love with ANOTHER Flynn-Fletcher boy! We all know how bad that went the first time. And plus, it's only been an hour or so since it happened! Why is she falling so fast?!
She gets her painful memories cut short by Phineas's hand on her cheek, and, by reflex, she clasps his hand. “Iz… why are you crying?”, whispered Phineas, as a sniffle escaped the girl to his side. "It's just about what happened today, I'm fine.", the shameful girl responded. “Don't think about it, it'll only tear you down more. You're amazing, and if Ferb doesn't realize this, then he's missing out. You're amazing, Iz. Now, c'mon — let's keep watching.”
Phineas slowly pulls his hand away from Isabella before she grabs his hand. “Keep holding onto me… Please?” The boy was bewildered by Isabella's vulnerability, as he placed his arm around her shoulder. Cliché, isn't it? She put her head to his shoulder and sighed in content.
Close to the end of the movie, Phineas kisses Isabella's head gently. Isabella turned scarlet and pushed the Triangle Guy That Never Will Die™ away. She wasn't supposed to be falling in love with him! The rest of the movie became tense silence, as there was no more popcorn to eat, drinks to slurp, or candy to chew. All they could do was awkwardly watch the credits in each other's company.
After the movie ended, the teenagers walked out together. They glance at one another, before burning up, and looking in the opposite direction. “So… Thoughts on the movie?” The opportunity taken to break the monotony of their uncomfortable silence was taken by Isabella. The Dorito-Headed Dolt™ turned to his (hope-to-be) girlfriend, as he feasted his eyes upon her beauty. “Your eyes are so beautiful that any ocean — even the most wondrous one — would never compare. Your hair is as mysterious as coal, but shines like a diamond… and your smile, Isabella… It's so bright and pulchritudinous — a captivating awe in which the Sun would not be able to create or even emulate in the slightest… You're beautiful, Isabella, and no one can convince me otherwise.” His musings rang throughout his head, as the more he heard his praisings, the more his desperation grew. He wanted to tell her — but what about the fact that she's still stuck on Ferb? That's gonna prevent a healthy relationship, causing it to fall apart! “The movie was fine…” He muttered, with Isabella taking note of his timidity.
When they made it to the street of Phineas’s house, they said their goodbyes, completely disregarding the planned sleepover. Phineas, of course, wanted to remind her, but after the tons of slip-ups and mistakes, it might've been better to leave her alone, instead of letting her confuse him for his brother. Phineas stood at his door as Isabella went to hers, sharing an awkward wave, following with each going inside their residences.
Phineas said hi to his mother, fist bumped his father, gave Perry a scratch on the chin, greeted Candace, and went to his shared room with Ferb.
Isabella said hi to her mother, gave Pinky his food and water, ate dinner, and went upstairs to her room. Her mother intruded, but it was still very much welcome.
“Ferb…”
“Mom…”
Ferb and Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro each turned to the respective adolescent calling.
“I think I'm in love with Isabella.”
“I think I'm in love with Phineas.”
On Phineas's side, Ferb inquired about how this happened again , and if it will go the way he thinks it will. In Isabella’s household, it went a bit differently.
“I knew you'd fall for him.”
“Excuse me?”
“I knew you'd fall for Phineas, Isabella.”
“He doesn't love me.”
“You'd be surprised.”
“What?”
“Nothing, just go to bed, querida.”
And with that, both Isabella and Phineas went to sleep with something new about themselves. Tomorrow was gonna be a strange day.