"Happy Valentine's Day, Isabella." Phineas smiled as he held out the heart-shaped box, hoping his nervousness didn't show through. He shouldn't be. She was his bestfriend, and he'd been giving her valentines for, well, since they meet each other.
Though, building a machine that would produce the best chocolate in the world was kinda lowkey compared to anything he'd given since they were six. And that was mostly due to lack of resources, it had been a lot harder to get people to take him seriously back then. More than one delivery man had taken one look at him, asked if his dad ordered the parts, and chastised him and Ferb for playing pranks when he told them that he placed the order.
So many missed opportunities.
Isabella accepted it. "Thanks..."
The lackluster reply had his smile falling. Dang it. Maybe he should've gone bigger after all? But she was the one that asked him to scale down after her last birthday. Which, okay, maybe they did go a little too far... Pinky still ran when he saw him. Not great.
"You could've given it to me at school."
"I guess, but that's not really as personal." Plus, this gave him an excuse to come over to her house. Gah, why did he need one? He used to be able to come over whenever. If only he knew what had changed. It was like it was just getting older, right? Baljeet and Buford didn't actively avoid him or act all weird if he dropped by unannounced. Well, aside from that one time, but how was he supposed to know Baljeet would be doing that with Ginger? He hadn't even realized they were dating.
She was looking at him with that expression that had shown up recently. Slightly closed off, not really giving him anything to go on about what she's thinking.
He hated that expression.
"It's... sweet." Her gaze fell to the box, the card slid into a pocket on top. "I, um, I have homework."
"Uh, yeah, me too. Maybe we could work on it together?" He fought the urge to cringe. Was that the best he could come up with?
"No, that's okay. It's just math."
"Right." He didn't move.
Her eyes slid passed him to the front door. And he tried not to feel hurt at the reminder that she hadn't actually invited him in. He'd just kind of walked into the entrance way when she opened the door.
Old habbits and all that.
"I'll leave you to it."
"Yeah."
He still didn't move. "Um, see you tomorrow?"
"See you, Phineas."
He managed another smile as he left, letting it fall as soon as the door slammed shut behind him.
Phineas closed his eyes. So much for a happy Valentine's Day.
Probably a good thing he didn't give her the card with the whole 'think we could go out some time' spiel. Things were awkward enough without him making them even worse.
