me after you ; h. styles

woke up alone.

There is a bird outside on the window when she wakes up.

It is singing happily and proudly. Stella suddenly feels terrified that it will fly into her room since she left the window open last night, but it doesn't. Instead it flies away and disappears into the morning sky. It's cloudy today and there is an earthy smell permeating the air outside.

Stella sits up in bed, blinking a few times until she feels like she's woken up. When she looks out the window she can see her grandparents outside doing some yard work. They are in their seventies, but no one would never guess that. Some days Stella feels as if they have more energy than her.

Her summer vacation has just started and Stella can already feel the heat pooling around the room as she walks over to her closet. Her body feels slightly sticky with sweat and the thought makes her skin crawl. She grabs a pair of old overall shorts - which once belonged to her grandmother - and a tank top, along with a bra and underwear, and then makes her way into the shower.

Spending her summer in the country side is not how Stella imagined her summer vacation would go. She had been prepared for multiple nights of heavy drinking with her mates, traveling to the beach, kissing random strangers at bars, and sleeping in until at least noon. However her plans changed when she was told by her mother one night that her grandparents had mentioned they felt lonely in their house and that they wished their grandkids would spend more time with them. Upon hearing this, Stella felt so guilty that she cancelled her trips and all of her plans and called her grandparents the next day. Stella was young and had plenty of time to do everything she wanted, and she truly hated the idea of her grandparents being lonely.

Stella comes from a successful family, who rarely has time for each other. Her parents, however, are divorced. While her father lives in America producing and writing music, her mother lives in Spain and is a successful writer and literature professor. Two of her brothers have gone on to be medical doctors and her sister is currently in Sweden finishing her medical training. She is the youngest and there is an immense sense of pressure to be just as successful as her siblings and parents.

Unlike her siblings, who from a young age knew what they wanted to do, Stella does not. She has played around with the idea of psychology, education, and even law, but she is hesitant because she doesn't know what she's passionate about. And while Stella's only twenty-four with all the time in the world, she feels stuck. She has often thought about joining her dad in America because she loves music, but she wants to earn her career and work for it, not have it handed to her.

After Stella has showered and gotten ready for the day, she ties a yellow bandana around her head to keep her hair out of the way. Before heading down, she grabs the book she is currently reading after sliding her shoes on. She then makes her way down the long hallway that leads up to her room and walks down stairs. The tea kettle is still hot and she makes herself a cup. She opens up the medicine cabinet to check and see if her grandparents have taken their medications this morning. As usual, they haven't.

"Time to do drugs!" Stella announces as she walks out to the garden. Her grandmother is planting her another rose bush while her grandfather waters all the other flowers. These are the very first things they do in the morning every single day. Even before they have breakfast, which Stella has made the past few mornings. There are also lemon, peach, and cherry trees scattered throughout the garden and the land that they own.

Once her grandparents have taken all their medications, Stella heads off and makes her way to the greenhouse. She spent the first two weeks cleaning it and moving an old couch she found in the basement into it. Stella spends most of her morning in there reading until she becomes too hungry or too bored. Occasionally she will have a nap there, if the day isn't too hot, or will listen to music as she paints.