Serious

Confession

"Ok, Isabella. You can do this. You have to do this."

Isabella Garcia-Shapiro stared at the wooden fence and took a breath. The events of the previous night were fresh in her mind. She could still hear the monotone drones of 'lots of me' bouncing around in her skull. But worse of all, Phineas's face when she told him how she felt was stained into her memories like a slap in the face. He'd always felt... what? The same way? The opposite? She wasn't sure how much uncertainty she could take anymore.

Every time she thought she had made a break through, he always ruined in somehow. But just when she was about to give up hope he said something, did something that convinced her that he was worth all the effort she put into doing every little thing he asked of her.

If she was being honest with herself, it wasn't healthy. Between being the leader of the Fireside Girls and devoting herself to Phineas, she barely had any time for herself. But despite that, she was ok with it all. She enjoyed spending time with him, enjoyed going on adventures with him. She would have been happy to continue this way but the other half of her life demanded she earned the emotional bravery patch and telling him how she felt was the only way to do it.

Technically, she'd done it last night. He didn't remember but she had told him that she liked him liked him. Wasn't that enough to say she'd earned the right to wear that patch proudly upon her sash and move on?

No. Because now she wanted to know what he had been about to say before he sacrificed himself to save her. She needed to know how he felt about her, needed to know if she ever had any chance with the him. Whether it had been worth it to come by his house everyday just to see him and see what he was doing.

She took another breath forced a smile onto her face and stepped into the back garden.

"Whatcha doin?"

Baljeet and Buford were already there, but Isabella only had eyes for Phineas who looked up from his blueprint and smiled.

"Oh hey Isabella," he said then looked back down again. She walked over to where they were sitting and tentatively sat down. "How are you doing after yesterday?"

"I'm ok," she said smiling. "I'm glad it's over though."

"Same here."

"I can't believe all it took to cure zombies was water," Buford snorted.

"Technically it makes scientific sense," Baljeet began before Buford palmed him in the face pushing him over. Isabella looked around her friends, glad that everything was back to normal yet now knowing that normal wasn't good enough any more.

"Phineas, can we talk?"

"Sure thing Isabella," he said. "If you wanna get what happened to you yesterday off your chest we're all here."

"Actually..." she trailed off. "What do you mean what happened yesterday?" Had he lied to her about losing his memories? Did he remember her confession?

"He was really worried about you," Buford butted in.

"Really?" she smiled shyly but tried not to get her hopes up. This was one of those moments he always ruined.

"Well yeah, I can't believe we left you behind!" Phineas exclaimed. "You're our friend we should have all had each other's back!" Isabella mulled it over in her head. Close enough.

"Actually, I was wondering if it could just be us?" The moment she said it, she knew she had phrased it wrong but there was no going back now.

"Ok." He stood up and they moved away from the rest of the group.