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“Okay, now close your eyes,” Isabella instructed firmly. Candace obliged with a chuckle.
“Bossy,” she said. “Are the closedness of my eyes to your liking?”
“Yes. And you have no right to call me bossy, Miss Flynn,” Isabella teased. She was already up to finishing touches on Candace’s eye-makeup, which was really the only part she needed help with. “You’re the one who was running our party prep like the navy like, two hours ago.”
“Silly me, thinking you would enjoy singing love songs with Phineas all afternoon,” Candace said. Isabella could already feel her face get warm at the comment.
“Shut up,” she said, though she couldn’t really sell an “I don’t care” attitude.
“It sounded like fun,” Candace sang. “Did he hold your hand? You guys did that a lot when you were kids. Did he stare right into your soul as he sang about loooove?”
“You know I hold the power to make you look like a clown right now, right?”
Candace laughed, knowing full well that the threat was empty. It wasn’t that Isabella wasn’t intimidating– Candace had definitely seen enough of her patch related threats to know otherwise– it was just that it was hard to take Isabella “Loyal and Generous” Garcia-Shapiro seriously when she was threatening to ruin a friend’s good time.
“Alright, alright, I’ll stop.”
“Thank you.”
“I guess I’ll see you two give each other heart-eyes when the party actually starts.”
“Candace!”
Amidst similar teasing and lots of giggles, Isabella finished Candace’s makeup and then hurried off to change into her own semiformal outfit. It was a new dress, so that made it all the more exciting to wear. When she walked back into Candace’s room, ready to ask for Vanessa’s assistance with her hair, she caught her own reflection in the mirror and had to do a double take.
She looked… really pretty.
“Pretty” wasn’t usually how she’d describe her looks. She could feel cute at times, when she was feeling particularly confident, but other than that, she didn’t think about appearances that much. Usually she just wanted to not look like a disaster right before seeing Phineas.
(Though Phineas never had much to say about her looks. Sometimes, when she would describe something he said or did as “cute” he would reply,
“Yeah, but you’re cuter. Scientifically.”
Probably completely unaware of how flirty it sounded. It made Isabella want to throw things at him.)
“You look amazing!” Candace said, as soon as she was in her line of sight. “That dress is gorgeous, where did you get it?”
“Paradise Couture,” Isabella said, checking the tag. She did a little twirl, delighting in how the sparkles glimmered as they caught the light. “Thank goodness Ferb is setting up that bio-dome, or else I would be crazy to wear this during winter.”
“Yep, Candace is finally using her genius brothers for her convenience,” Stacy said, entering the room with a bunch of photo props. “Couldn’t be prouder.”
“It’s hardly ‘using’ if they’re volunteering,” Isabella reasoned. “Phineas is just that nice.”
“And Ferb,” Candace added with a pointed look. Isabella blushed.
“And Ferb,” she repeated. “Vanessa? Could you help me with my hair once you’re done?”
“Sure!”
Candace finished getting ready first, by nature of having started first, so she headed down and checked on everything before the first not-on-prep-duty guests arrived. She hummed her approval at the decorations and taste-tested the snacks, making a mental note to thank her brothers and their friends for all their help.
“If it isn’t one half of a whole couple of honor,” Phineas said, wearing one of his signature grins and an outfit that felt surreally formal for her little brother. “So? What do you think? Did we do a good job?”
“The best,” Candace said, a little overcome by her affection towards him. As she spent more and more time away from home, she found that spending the time she did have with her brothers in a normal, beside-them way was sweeter and more fun than running after them with her mom in tow. She really did have the best siblings in the world. “Thanks for all the help.”
“No worries,” he said, tugging at his shirt’s long sleeves. “Hey, uh, is Isabella already…”
Candace smiled at his flustered look. Ever since he had admitted his feelings, he couldn’t mention Isabella around her without getting a little pink. “I think she’ll be down in a few minutes. You know, because you have to sing love songs together.”
“Very smooth, I’m sure she doesn’t suspect a thing,” Phineas deadpanned. Candace only laughed. She didn’t reveal the truth– that Isabella assumed she had done it to tease her , and not Phineas– but she almost did.
(Which, of course, would be against the betting pool rules. Stacy might’ve won the Feelings Realization category, but the jury was still out on the other ones.)
Isabella did find herself in the Flynn-Fletcher living room only short moments after, and she made her way to the temperature-controlled backyard, ready to practice the singing some more with Phineas. She tugged self-consciously at her dress’s skirt, straightening it out even though there wasn’t a single thing out of place.
“Isabella! There you are,” Phineas said, doing a trouble take once she lifted her head and met his eyes. It might’ve been her imagination, but she could’ve sworn he stuttered a bit when he said, “All ready to go?”
“Yeah,” she said, feeling much shier than she ought to be with her best friend.
“You look, uh… Well, you look very pretty,” he said. And he could’ve sounded almost casual if it weren’t for the faint flush on his cheeks. “Guess it shouldn’t be a surprise, since it’s a scientific fact and all.”
Isabella chuckled, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I thought that was the cuteness.”
Phineas smiled. It was the same boyish smile that she had so often seen growing up, just a tad too shy to be a grin, and just a little too sweet to keep her heart from racing and the butterflies from invading her every sense. “Well, you are cute. Can’t argue with science. But I’d say you’re very pretty too. You know, scientifically.”
“Right,” she said, looking away and praying he wouldn’t notice how red she was probably getting. “For what it's worth, I think you’re cute, too. Though I don’t really have the machine to prove it.”
“We’ll figure that out another day,” Phineas said with a laugh. “C’mon, we have a lot more singing to do.”