Compass (Hiatus)

Chapter Four

"You might want to stand back," Phineas cautions, taking a step back himself.

The party cannon, a brilliant shade of vermillion, detailed with pink, tiny hearts (one of Candace's suggestions that the boys begrudgingly took on board, as it was after all for a Valentine's Day disco), has been prepared for action in the empty garage.

Isabella backs up, accidently bumping into Phineas' chest and a delicate pink blush dusts her cheeks. Busying himself with the control panel, he misses her embarrassment, obliviously slinging an arm over her shoulders.

Casually, he asks, "Guys must be lining up outside your house to ask you to the disco, huh?" But in trying to sound aloof, Phineas only manages to emphasise the jealous edge to his voice.

Isabella shakes her head. "Nope," she lies. The truth is she'd been asked countless times, but rebuffed every suitor. "I'm actually hoping someone special will ask me."

Phineas feels a pang of sadness, but doesn't let on that her comment had any effect on him.

"Oh . . . And who is this lucky guy?" Phineas teases. He doesn't expect an answer, but he asks for reasons he can't explain.

You! Isabella thinks so loud that her brain hurts, but telling him would lead to a different kind of pain. "Wouldn't you like to know," she evades coyly.

I gotta know who my competition is, Phineas' brain supplies. Wait, what? He back-peddles. I didn't mean that, did I? I think I'd know if I had feelings for Isabella, right?

Realising that the conversation had tapered off into silence, Phineas chuckles awkwardly. Welcoming the distraction from his own thoughts, he pulls his protective goggles over his eyes.

"We shouldn't really use this in such a small space, but what's life without a little excitement?" He grins.

Checking that Isabella's goggles and ear defenders were also in place, Phineas activates the canon. There's a loud boom that shakes the house to the foundations and plaster flakes from the ceiling. The body of the canon recoils, sending thousands of tiny paper hearts dancing across the room and fluttering to the floor.

A smug grin is plastered on his face and when he turns to Isabella, he suppresses the laughter threatening to escape. He thinks she looks adorable with pink confetti in her hair, even with the bulky goggles.

Struck with the sudden urge to be close to her, he leans in. "You've got some," --he rounds up some paper from her ebony hair-- "stuff on you."

She giggled. "Did you get it?" She asked, gazing at him through her lashes.

It barely made a difference as she was still covered in the stuff, but he smiled warmly anyway. "Not quite," he told her. It was an understatement.

That answers that question, Phineas summarises. But like any good scientist, he would test his hypothesises before acting upon it by collecting conclusive data. He needed the compass.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed that chapter and if you did, don't be a silent reader! Thanks to my beta midnightpansy!

Click here to follow me: koalala11