Eternity's Dime

Chapter Fifteen: Night Out

Phineas scrunched up his nose as he walked into the bar. Between the stench of the drinks served there and the blaring music, it was as claustrophobic as he remembered. He'd only been here once before, not really by choice, people just had the strange idea that dragging him out to places like this was helping him.

Why did people think that if you're young, you automatically want to spend your nights in barrooms and clubs, partying?

He kept his head down, quickly moving towards the back of the room.

The speakers must have been near the front since he could actually hear himself think once he sat down.

Vanessa smiled at him, an already half-empty glass in her hand. "Hey, Phineas. Did you bring it?"

"Yeah." He didn't move to pull out the flash drive. If he was going to back out, this was his last chance. He didn't even know what he was handing over really since he'd grabbed any file containing the keywords she'd given him without actually reading more than a few sentences of each.

What if he was doing the wrong thing here?

But it was Vanessa. How bad could it be? He stared at her.

Okay, so it could be very bad.

He really should have thought about this on the way over. Or anything before that. Alright, he needed to stall.

"I thought your old friend was supposed to meet you here?" Unless it was a play on words and she'd meant him by an old friend. He couldn't tell if that would be a cool or lame thing to do, and Vanessa didn't exactly do lame.

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "He's late."

"Only fashionably."

Phineas froze at the voice. He had to be wrong. There was no way he was her old friend. That was impossible. It had to be impossible. He kept his eyes on her.

"Right." Taking a sip of her drink, she turned to look at the maybe-Ferbs and immediately choked.

Maybe-Ferbs moved towards her and clapped her on the back, drawing Phineas' attention to him.

And, shit, it was him. It was confirmed, the universe hated him. Phineas glanced around, heart beginning to pound. Could he run? They'd notice for sure, even with Vanessa coughing like that. Duck under the table? He'd look like an idiot if they saw him. He stared at his lap. Maybe if he stayed still, Ferbs wouldn't pay attention to him.

Vanessa's coughing subsided. "What are you wearing?"

"Why? Do you like it?"

"Like is not the word I would use."

For some inexplicable reason, Ferbs sat down on the table. "Well, what word would you use?"

She didn't say anything but Ferbs snorted like she had.

Phineas frowned. Maybe they were whispering. At least, he hadn't been acknowledged.

"Where are my manners? Ferbs this is Phineas—"

So much for that.

"We've met." Ferbs twisted around to face him. "Do you share in Vanessa's opinion?"

He should have crawled under the table. Still not looking, he tried to force his dry tongue into action. "On what?"

"My outfit."

What did Ferbs want from him? Was this one of those dating custom things where he was supposed to compliment him? Or was it a casual question? Phineas swallowed. Ferbs didn't seem upset at him about their last meeting, but what if he answered wrong and Ferbs retracted whatever forgiveness he'd given him?