Canderemy redux: Phinbella

Good Thing

Phineas POV
As we walked into the movie theater, I gotta admit, it was something. This was not an average cinema with small concession stands and a ticket booth. The ceiling must have been fifty feet high, with many urban-building themed restaurants sprouting up along the sides of the miniature mall. In addition to the food, there were several gift shops and even one sporting bike gear. There were billboards with flashing lights that helped illuminate the huge rooms, advertising different movies and foods. "We're going to have to best this place," I mentally noted as we walked through the theater.

"Let's get some popcorn, Isabella, my treat," I said, and I randomly chose a concession stand to buy snacks from.

"I can't let you do that!" Isabella responded, "We'll split the difference and keep it fair."

"Nope," I insisted, "Ferb told me that whenever a guy and a girl are together, the guy always pays. And I already got missed out on that because you bought the tickets, so I sort of have to make it up now."

Isabella rolled her eyes but smiled. "Okay, Phineas, if you really want to be the gentleman, then you can buy us the popcorn".

Isabella POV

Although I was calm on the outside, I was squealing like a little girl on the inside. I always knew that Phineas had good manners compared to other boys his age, but I didn't expect him to know and follow that dating rule, even if he did get the idea from Ferb. When Phineas purchased a single extra large popcorn instead of two smaller ones, I only got more excited. We would be holding and sharing the same popcorn!

Seeing my excitement, Phineas handed me the popcorn.

"Like popcorn, Isabella?" he asked. "You look pretty happy."

"Yeah, and I'm just excited that we get to be here," I replied, not telling the complete truth.

He then began gazing around at the massive theater.

"This theater is amazing, Isabella," he said. "I think that one of these days we need to build a bigger one to test our inventing skills. And we can make our own movies, too, to play in the theater!"

"You guys don't need to test yourself, its already obvious you can do the impossible," I remarked. It was fun to hear Phineas talk about his invention plans in his energetic tone. He got so excited that it would rub off on me and others as well.

"True, I guess," he replied, "but only with your help and the rest of the gang."

He then glanced at a big clock mounted on the ceiling of the expansive room they were in and gasped.

"Oh no, we only have two minutes until Stumbleberry Finkbat starts! We gotta go, Isabella!".

Phineas started hurrying through the theater, looking for the movie entrance, and I struggled to keep up with his quick pace. I didn't know how he could maneuver through the massive crowds of people without slowing.

"Wait Phineas!" I yelled to get him to slow down, but it was lost in the noise and commotion of the crowd. I soon lost sight of his small tuft of hair in the crowd.

I had lost sight of Phineas, so I made an effort to go faster so that I could find him again. I wound through the people, not being as careful as I had been before, until-

All of a sudden, I tripped over somebody's foot and went plummeting down to the marble floor. I screamed and lost my grip on the bucket I was holding. I landed on my face, but somehow I didn't get hurt very much. The bucket landed on its side next to me, and popcorn flew everywhere, scattering across the ground and covering parts of my face and skirt.

"Isabella?" Phineas appeared out from the crowd again, looking for me. He spotted me lying on the hard floor, and made his way over to me.

"Isabella! What happened?" he called to me.

I didn't respond, only sniffled a little, so Phineas took my hands and helped me up.

"Are you okay?" he repeated, brushing bits of smashed popcorn off of my pink dress. "What happened? Did you fall? Did you hurt yourself in any places? Do you need to see a doctor?".

I was indeed okay, and apart from a minor headache I felt fine. However, I then realized that I had ruined our popcorn. We were going to share that popcorn, and maybe even hold hands from it! And also, he bought that popcorn himself, and now it was all wasted.

My face grimaced in pain, but not from the fall. It was because I had spoiled a romantic opportunity. A single tear formed in one of my eyes, even though I knew it was something silly to cry over.

"No, I think I'm okay," I told Phineas, who had noticed my sorrowful expression. I stared at the ground and at the mess I had created.

He enveloped me in a hug, and said, "It's okay, Isabella, we don't need the popcorn."

"But you were being so nice and paid for it, and then I had to be the clutz I am and ruin it!" He continued comforting me by rubbing my back and holding me tighter.

"That doesn't matter at all. All that matters is that you're okay."

I was silent for a few seconds, enjoying the close proximity between us. I guess it was okay if we didn't have the popcorn, I could probably try to get to Phineas in a different, more creative way instead.

"Thanks, Phineas," I finally said, "You always know how to make me feel better."

Phineas didn't reply but just kept holding me. I had recovered from my accident in multiple ways, but I decided to feign sadness a little longer to prolong the embrace. Who needed to see a dumb old movie when you could be hugging your crush for as long as you liked? I tried to stay aware, but soon enough started drifting into Phineas-Land.

Eventually, Phineas pulled away from me, to my disappointment. He must have figured I was okay by now. To my delight, however, he linked his hand in mine and pulled me in the direction of the movie. Now there was no chance we would be separated again.

"C'mon, Isabella, we've already missed the first five minutes! Let's get in there!"

I slowly followed his lead as we finally walked into the dark theater, still out of it from my recent daydream and our time-induced hug. Maybe dropping that popcorn was a good thing after all.