Sweet Summer Sunsets- A Robert Irwin FanFic

Robert

Ashley handed me her sketchbook right after I buckled my seatbelt. She started her Jeep and started driving to her house.

I watched her as she drove, tapping her fingers on the Jeep to Ed Sheeran that was softly playing through the radio. She looked so pretty today, with no makeup and her brown hair falling over her shoulders. I think I've had a crush on her for as long as I remembered, cause some part of me has always wanted to do boyfriend things with her, like going out to eat as a date instead of this sibling-like relationship we have, but I was too scared to ask her out. Would she even like me that way? I'm just...me. She could easily swing any guy she wanted, and I doubted I would be her first pick.

I quickly looked away, fearing she would notice my stare and start with her questions. We pulled into her driveway and I got out of her Jeep, still holding her sketchbook and pencils in my hands. I waited for her as she grabbed her school bag from the backseat, and then we walked up to her house.

Her house was beautiful, it looked like a log cabin from the outside but was very homey and comfortable. We opened the door and walked into the living room to see her mum sitting there, watching television.

"Hey, mum! Robert wanted to come over for dinner, I hope that's okay?" She said to her mum, looking down at her with a smile.

"Not a problem at all sweetheart! Dinner isn't quite ready yet, but you guys can go up to your room for an hour or so, and I'll call you two back down when it's ready," She said, turning back to the television.

"Thank you, Laurie!" I called to her. Ashley's mum was such a nice lady, very much like my own mum. I know Laurie doesn't get on with many of Ashley's friends, especially guys, she is very protective of Ashley. But she does like me, and that's because of how long we've all known each other, and Gary's close friendship with my dad.

We walked up the stairs to Ashley's room, both of us in comfortable silence. As we reached the door I could see her cat, Tiger, sleeping on her bed.

I sat down next to the cat, petting his orange fur softly, as not to startle him. Ashley set her school bag on her desk chair and went to take off her little white sweater. As she went to grab the sketchbook from me, I noticed some scars on her wrist that I never noticed before. I felt a pang of hurt in my heart. Ashley couldn't have done that herself, could she? But they were too straight and too lined up to be on accident or from one of the animals at the zoo.

"Uh, Robert?" She asked, drawing my attention back to her face.

"Oh, yeah sorry. Here you are," I said, snapping myself out of my thoughts and handing her the sketchbook and pencils.

She set her sketchbook on her desk, next to a canvas on a small desktop easel that she must've been working on.

"Oh, when did you start that? It's beautiful," I said, looking at the painting. It was a beautiful painting of a sunset on the beach, with some dolphins jumping out of the water. She sat on the floor and looked over at it.

"Hmmm a few days ago? I feel like maybe it's still missing something but I haven't quite figured out what yet," She replied.

"Maybe a palm tree on the side of it, and some land in the foreground? Like a little island closer to the "front" of it?" I suggested and looked back at her. She sat with her back against the wall, her short legs out in front of her.

"Yes! That would be perfect. I have to wait for the most recent coat of paint to dry but I'll definitely be adding that to it!" She said, before taking her shoes off to reveal some pink socks with a flower pattern on them.

I looked around her room, there was her wooden desk which had that beach painting on it, some paints, her sketchbook and pencils, a cup, and a few paintbrushes. Next to her desk, she had a plastic set of drawers that had various other art supplies in it- coloured pencils, chalks, charcoals, clay, and more. You name it if it's art supplies Ashley probably has it. She was sat on the floor to the right of the desk, and then to the right of her, there was her bookshelf. She had some little things she's made out of clay on the top shelf, and different books on animals on the rest of them. On the very top of the bookshelf, there was a stuffed animal of an otter I got her from the zoo a few years ago, when she was going through a rough breakup. On the adjoining wall was the door, left open so Laurie wouldn't think we were up to anything. And next to the door was a cage, with her two guinea pigs in it. The cage was big enough that it reached the foot of her bed frame. Above the cage was her television mounted on the wall.