Robbie's POV
I couldn't believe that Maxine didn't think her art was good. It really is amazing.
Jared: Rob, come check these out.
I walked towards him. He was standing in front of a table that had papers scattered all over it. Most of them were drawings, some were paintings, and some were pictures of things she had drawn. All of them looked perfect. I saw a drawing of London, near the area where Big Ben is. In fact, the biggest part of the drawing was Big Ben. Everything was so realistic. Max sighed.
Max: Ugg. Jared.
Jared: Hang on. We're looking at old drawings.
Max: Why? Those are my scratch drawings.
Jared: They don't look like scratch drawings.
She came over and started grabbing a few sheets of paper. One of them was the drawing of London. She started crumpling them up, but me and Jared stopped her.
Jared: Why would you get rid of these? Maxi, you have serious talent.
Max: No, I don't. If you like them so much, you can keep them. I don't care what you do with them.
Jared: I have an idea. Come on, Robbie.
Jared grabbed the drawings from her, but I snatched the picture of London.
Me: London. This is really amazing. Almost makes me want to go back.
Max: To London? I thought you were from Lymington.
Me: I am. I meant just go back to the UK.
Max: That drawing does not do it justice.
Me: Actually, I think it does.
Max: You can keep it. I don't want it.
She turned away from me and went back to her other drawing. I finally went downstairs, where Jared was waiting in his room. I walked in and he closed the door.
Me: I can't believe she doesn't think these are good.
Jared: Yeah. She's really insecure.
Me: Why?
Jared: I think it has something to do with her biological parents. She doesn't talk much about them, but I know enough. Both her parents were alcoholics. Her father was abusive and her mom would watch him beat Max everyday. If he abused her physically, I'm sure he abused her verbally too. She lived with them until she was 14. That's a long time for them to make an influence on her opinions of herself. I really think she should show that poster to the designers.
Me: Me too.
Jared: I know it's impossible to forget your family, but I wish she would. I wish she would forget everything about her biological parents. She adjusted to being in a family that cares about her, but she's still...careful.
Jared started putting the drawings in a folder.
Me: What are you doing?
Jared: I'm going to show these to my parents. I'll tell them that one of our co-stars drew them. They'll tell us what they think of the drawings and Max will know they mean it, because they don't know they're really by here.
Me: She'll know they're not just saying it to make her feel good.
Jared: Exactly. I'll go get Max. You take these to the kitchen.
I grabbed the folder and went to the kitchen, where Jared's parents were.
Mrs. Gilmore: Hi, Robbie.
Me: Hi, Mrs. Gilmore. And Mr. Gilmore.
Mrs.Gilmore: What do you have there?
Me: Just some drawings a friend of mine drew.
Jared and Max walked in.
Jared: Yeah. His friend asked Robbie to get some opinions on them. He wants to know if he's going in the right direction with his art.
Me: What do you guys think?
I started pulling out a few of the drawings.
Mr.Gilmore: Is this friend in an art school?
Mrs.Gilmore: These are beautiful!
Mr.Gilmore: Really, Robbie. Who is this friend and is he selling his art? These are amazing!
Mrs.Gilmore: Look. It's Big Ben. Very realistic.
Me: I thought the same thing.
Jared: See, Maxi? I told you they'd love them.
Mr.Gilmore: Max, you drew these?
Max: Um...yeah. I just...got bored.
Mrs.Gilmore: We knew you draw, but we've never actually seen your art. Maxine, this is amazing. You have serious talent.
Max looked at me and Jared. We looked at her with hopeful eyes.
Max: Fine. I'll finish the poster and you can show it to...whoever you need to show it to. If they like it, they can use it. If they don't, you leave it alone. Got it?
Jared: Deal.
Me: Perfect.
Mrs.Gilmore: What poster?
Max: Just a second.
Max ran upstairs and came back down a few seconds later, carrying a large, rolled up paper. She went to the living room and spread it out on the floor. It still surprised me how realistic it looked. I noticed the recently added Ariel.
Max: It's not finished.
Mrs.Gilmore: Oh my god. Maxine, this is...wow. Amazing doesn't even begin to cover it.
Mr.Gilmore: When did you start this?
Max: A little bit after Jared got the part as Henry. He asked me if I would draws something. It started out just being the main characters. Emma, Regina, Snow, Charming, Rumple, and Henry. Then they added more characters and it just grew from there. Oh! Everything looks more realistic when you see them in person. She grabbed a pencil from the coffee table and sat on the floor in front of the drawing. She pulled me and Jared down so we were sitting in front of her.
Jared: You already drew me!
Max: You're older. You grew. I'm just gonna add some touch ups. Make you look just a little bit older.
Jared: OK, fine. Can I grab my phone?
Max: Uh...sure. I should probably start on Robbie first anyway.
Me: Wait...me?
Max: Duh. You're Peter Pan!
She started drawing me. Without looking away from the paper, she continued talking to me.
Max: Oh, and don't pose. I just need to make sure I get all the..."details".
She drew an outline of me. I didn't exactly see me, but I was sure it would look better when she finished. After a while, Jared came back with his phone.
Me: What took you so long?
Max squealed.
Jared: What?
Max: Nothing. Keep talking.
Jared: Somebody got a boost pf confidence.
Max: I really did! Temporarily of course. I just love drawing, even if I'm not good at it.
Me: You're amazing at it.
Max: Aww. Thanks, Pan.
I rolled my eyes and continued talking to Jared.
Me: What took so long?
Jared: Just had to make a few calls.
Max: I'll be right back. Don't move. I usually don't get the person right in front of me, with the exception of Jared.
She ran upstairs and the doorbell rang.
Jared: They're here.
He ran to the door, opening it and revealing Jennifer (Emma), Josh (Charming), Ginnifer (Snow), Lana (Regina), Emilie (Belle), and Robert (Rumple).
Jared: OK, guys. Hurry, before she gets back. What do you think of this drawing?
He gestured to the poster.
Jen: Hi to you too. And that is amazing!
Josh: Who drew this?
Emilie: And can I have their number? I've been wanting some artwork at my place.
Lana: Wow, Jared. Where did you get this?
Me: Hey!
They all waved at me, but continued staring at the poster. Maxine came back down with more pencils and a laptop.
Max: OK, Robbie. You're going to be here a whi-oh-hi.
She stared at the new arrivals.
Lana: Uh...hi?
Ginny: Jared, who's this?
Jared stood by Max.
Jared: Everybody, this is my sister Maxine.
Lana: You have a sister!?
Robert: Why didn't we know about this?
Jared: She's adopted. And...I don't know. I just never mentioned her. Anyway, she's the one who drew this amazing drawing you are all so fond of.
Lana: Wow, Maxine. This is...beautiful.
Emilie: Really. Again, I wanted some artwork for my house. Do you think you-
Josh: This drawing is fantastic, but are we going to ignore the fact that Jared has a sister we didn't know about.
Jared: She started this after I got the part as Henry and she's been adding to it ever since. Once she finishes, we're going to take it to the designers and maybe it will be used for our advertisements.
Ginny: That would be awesome!
Max: Oh, Robbie. Gotta finish drawing you.
She started drawing again, using her laptop to get the details of my Peter Pan costume.
Max: OK. Almost done. Do your eyebrow thing.
Me: Why?
Max: Do it!
I slanted my eyebrow like I do in the show. She smiled and started drawing. In the end, it looked exactly like me. She even got my signature smirk right. I noticed that in the drawing, I was looking at Henry, which is why she wanted me to talk to Jared earlier.
Me: Wow.
Max: Um...how long are the rest of you going to be here?
Josh: I don't know. Why?
Max: Because this won't take long.
She started adding lines to her drawing of their characters. They all smiled at the finished work. Jared took a picture of the poster.
Max: It's gonna take a little while to finish.
Jared: Why?
Max: Because I have other characters to draw and I should probably add color. I have other stuff to do and I just can't juggle all of it.
Jared: I'll do your chores for you. Until you finish that is.
Max: I'm gonna need to add more paper and I need a big space.
Josh: We'll all help you.
Mr.Gilmore: As for the space, you can use the basement. I'll get it cleaned up and we can turn it into a better at studio for you.
Josh and Robert: I'll help with that.
Max: I have to help mom around the house. Sorry, Jare. I thought I could handle it, but I realize why I stopped drawing it in the first place.
Lana and Ginny: We'll help your mom.
Emilie and Jen: We'll help move your art stuff to the basement.
Me: I guess I'll sit here and look amazing. Done and done.
We all laughed.
Max: You all would really help me?
Emilie: Art like that deserves to be recognized.
Max: OK. We'll start tomorrow.
After that, we all ate dinner there and talked. Finally, everyone started to leave. I'm glad Max finally felt confident about her art. I started walking out the door.
Max: Wait, Robbie?
Me: Yeah?
Max: Thanks.
Me: I didn't do anything.
Max: Wrong. Thanks for...supporting me I guess.
Me: No problem. I'll see you tomorrow.
Max: Bye.
She closed the door and I walked to my car with a smile on my face.