Finding Dad (Chapter 7)



~Isabella~

I CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED! I'M PHINEAS' GIRLFRIEND! "Phineas, just out of curiosity, how long have you thought you liked me?" I ask. I really am curious! "The truth is that I probably have for a while. But I didn't actually notice until a couple days ago. I'm sorry I was too stupid to realize sooner," he says, looking somewhat ashamed of himself. "Phineas, as your girlfriend, I can't let you worry about things like that. What matters now is that you know how you feel, and you had the guts to tell me," I respond. I threw in the "as your girlfriend" part because I can still hardly believe that this is real. Speaking of that… "Phineas, can you pinch me?" "Ooooooookay?" he says, confused. He pinches me on my arm, which I have to admit does kind of sting. "Why did you want me to do that?" he asks. I look him in the eye. "To make sure I didn't just dream all of that." We both crack up at this. We reach Mr. Flynn's room again. He has put on some decent clothes now, and is ready to take us to lunch. He sees Phineas and I holding hands and says to Phineas, "I told you so." "Shut up Dad," is his response. I giggle. "Are you two looooooooooovebirds ready?" he says in a mocking tone. "Really Dad? You're really gonna be like this?" Phineas says, somewhat annoyed. I can't help it; I burst out laughing. "You too? Great…" Phineas says. "I'm sorry," I reply. "Your dad is just really funny!" "Yeah, yeah, making fun of me because I finally got the guts to tell you how much I liked you. Gee, that's just so funny," Phineas says, sarcasm coating his voice. But then he laughs as we all leave the hotel. I'm not exactly sure where Mr. Flynn plans on taking us, but I couldn't be happier. We're walking down Canal Street, one of the busiest streets in the Quarter, and also one of the most beautiful. I'm holding Phineas' hand, finally able to look at him without even trying to hide it. His smile seems a million times brighter now; I suppose it's because he doesn't have to hide his feelings. I can also feel my own smile permanently glued to my face, because my years and years of patience have finally paid off. We reach our destination, and out of all places, Mr. Flynn takes us to an Arby's. I just give him a quizzical expression, but he says, "Well, I didn't promise anything fancy. Plus, the important thing is, we're all together." I laugh. "What? Too cheesy?" he asks. I answer, "No, I'm just laughing at how much Phineas is like you. He always sees the positive side of everything. It's one of the things I love about him." I look over at Phineas and he is blushing. "God, you blush easy," Mr. Flynn says. "Hey! This is gonna take some getting used to!" Phineas says in his defense. I just keep laughing; this is too funny! Some getting used to… Phineas is right. I myself, after years of preparing am still not exactly sure how to handle this. We go and order some food. I only get a vanilla shake, my favorite! I'm not really an Arby's fan, but anywhere that Phineas (or should I say my boyfriend!) is, I'm okay with. After our food comes, the three of us find a table and Mr. Flynn excuses himself to go to the bathroom. I assume it's to give his son and his girlfriend some alone time. Since Phineas and I are sitting on the same side of the table, he puts his arm around me and I lean into him. "Sorry Izzy, but I didn't want to do that in front of my dad. He's already giving me a hard time about having a girlfriend in the first place," he says somewhat sheepishly. "It's okay. I didn't want him to see this either," I say teasingly. "See wh-?", he starts to say but before he can finish I kiss him on the cheek for the second time today. He laughs. Out of nowhere, Mr. Flynn appears and we immediately separate. "Shoot, you kids don't have to hide from me. I've seen plenty of kids make out in my day." "W-We weren't making out!" Phineas quickly stutters, his face bright red. And it's true, we weren't. "Sure, sure," Mr. Flynn says as he slide back into his seat. I happily drink my vanilla milkshake, never wanting this day to end.

~Phineas~

I may seem all cool on the outside, but on the inside I'm a wreck. And not in the bad sense of the word, I've never been this happy before! Not only did I manage to tell Isabella that I liked her, she had been returning those feelings for who knows how long! I feel kind of dumb for not noticing it before, because when I think about it now she was a little obvious about liking me. I even took her on a freaking romantic cruise and still didn't notice! GOD I'M AN IDIOT!!! No, the reason I'm a wreck is because I'm inexperienced with this sort of thing. I mean, I just don't want to do anything wrong, like accidentally insult her or let her forget how much I love her. There, I said it. But it'll be a while before I can say that out loud. That doesn't mean I can't write it… I got an idea. "Hey Dad! Gotta pen?" I ask. Sure enough, he has one behind his ear and hands it to me. "What's it for? To write your little girlfriend some loooooooooove notes?" Dad says mockingly. I just ignore him and get to writing on a napkin. When I'm finished, I hand it to Isabella. It says: I love you, Isabella Marie Garcia-Shapiro. Just so you know. I wrote it down for two reasons: 1) So that you won't forget it. 2) Because I'm not ready to say it out loud yet. But I know that I do, and I know that before this trip is over, I'll probably pull myself together long enough to tell you exactly how I feel. Love, Phineas. "I love it, Phineas," she says. "Did you really mean it?" "Of course I did. But forgive me if it takes a while to be able to say it out loud. You understand, right?" "Yes, even though I know I have for so long, it'll take some time before I can say it either," she responds. And this is one of the reasons I love her. She doesn't judge you. She knows that I love her, but it's hard to say, and even more difficult to explain why I can't say it. And then I remember Dad's here. "Sorry Dad," I say sheepishly. "I just had to tell her something important that's hard to say out loud." "I understand. I didn't actually say "I love you" to a girl until I was fifteen." By this point, we are done with lunch. Dad hands me $40 and winks at me. "Have fun, Phin. I'm going to catch some sleep." Dad is so smart. Isabella and I get up and leave the restaurant. Hand in hand, we keep heading down Canal Street. I know I want to get her something, but then I decide that the greatest thing I could possibly get her wouldn't be something I could buy. Still, it couldn't hurt to get her something. She looks at me. "Phineas?" she says, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Yes baby?" I respond. "Okay first, don't call me baby. You aren't that type of person, and you know I've always loved it when you called me Izzy. Got it memorized?" "Sorry Izzy," I say. "You know I'm new to all of this." "Now what I was actually gonna say. You know I'm gonna keep this napkin forever, right?" I blush. "It was nothing," I start. "No it wasn't!" she cuts me off. "What you wrote, it was beautiful. It almost made me cry, and I probably would have if it wasn't for your dad being there. I'll never forget it. It's funny, we're so young and we have already got it all figured out." I let her words sink in. "Thank you, Isabella. I was hoping I got that message across." Sometimes, the best way to show someone you love them is to simply spend time with them. You don't have to do anything fancy or buy them anything ostentatious to show them how you feel. I got lucky. Isabella's one of those girls that appreciates the small things. But I wouldn't be with someone who had ridiculous expectations, anyways. We come across a restaurant/bar that with a sign outside that says: Karaoke inside! Isabella looks at me, and I know we're thinking the same thing. We go in and request to sing Gitchee Gitchee Goo. "Aren't you a little too young to sing a song like that?" the guy running the karaoke machine asks. "Too young?" I reply. "I wrote that song." "There's no way a kid like you wrote the song." "Yes, yes I did, and this lovely lady is one of the Ferbettes. We'll sing it and prove it to you." The familiar chorus kicks in and we're off. Once I start singing, the karaoke guy looks at me with an expression that seems to say "Outsmarted by a kid…" I'm surprised I can look Isabella in the eye and sing "Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you" without flinching, yet I can't manage to actually say it. When we finish singing the song, we hear on almost deafening roar of applause. Someone who appears to be drunk screams, "THAT SOUNDED EXACTLY LIKE PHINEAS AND THE FERB-TONES!" I scream back, "I AM PHINEAS! AND MY GIRLFRIEND ISABELLA IS A FERBETTE!" God, it feels good to scream to the world that Isabella is my girlfriend. This brings even more applause. Once the applause dies down, that same drunk person screams, "IF SHE'S YOUR GIRLFRIEND, KISS HER!" I feel my face get so hot; I'm surprised it's not on fire. I look at Isabella, who says, "You don't have to if you're not ready." But, I pull myself together and go for it. I pull her close to me kiss her. I've never kissed anyone before, so this is all new to me. But it feels so right, so natural. I can hear everyone in the restaurant cheer, but only faintly, because my brain is going crazy and I think my stomach will explode with all of the butterflies in it. Strangely, I like this sensation, and I don't want it to ever end.