me after you ; h. styles

cherry.

"Alright, so what did you think?" Harry asks Stella when the credits start rolling in. She is on one side of the sofa while he's on the other.

"I'm thinking my heart is hurting a little bit right now," she answers, sniffing and rubbing her nose. They've just watched Call Me By Your Name in her basement after Harry talked about how much he loved the book. She sighs. "It was beautiful though."

Harry and Stella have spent the last two weeks together. He has come over every day. They've developed routine, although it's not the same every day. Some days, they'll go on walks and talk about anything and everything. Other times they'll sit outside and read until it's too hot and they have to go inside. Some times they'll sit on the sofa all day and watch films together. Yesterday they picked some fruit together and Stella made peach lemonade.

This morning Stella went into town to get some ice cream to eat while they watched the film.

"I need to get out of this basement though. It's too hot in here," she says and stands, grabbing her ice cream bowl.

Harry sits up. "Let's go for a swim then," he suggests. "I'll meet you outside," he says before Stella can answer.

After washing the bowl, Stella heads up to her room to change out of her clothes. She slips on a swim suit, applies sunscreen, and grabs two towels before she goes back downstairs. She can already hear Harry swimming in the pool as she makes her way over.

They've never gone swimming together and for some odd reason that makes Stella nervous. She recognizes the swimming trunks he has on are an old pair that belong to her grandfather. He must have let Harry borrow them.

She sets down the towels on a nearby chair and then dives in. She is immediately splashed at when her head is above the water and she laughs, splashing back at Harry. Her runs his hands thought his hair, brushing it back. She swims over to the edge of pool, bringing her hands up to hold onto the edge. Harry swims over to her.

"Stella?"

"Yeah?" She asks, looking over at him. She has never been this close to him. She notices things about him that she hadn't before. Like some of the freckles around his face that she hadn't seen before because you'd have to be standing very close to him to see them. His eyelashes just barely curl and today his eyes look more blue than green.

Harry looks away when he notices her staring. It makes him nervous. "Can I ask you something?" Stella hums, telling him he can. "Do you ever wish things between you and your ex boyfriend worked out?"

"You mean, do I miss him?" She answers. Harry looks at her briefly, then turns the other way.

He feels blood rush to his face. He tells himself his face has gone red because it's hot outside.

"Do you?"

Stella shrugs, even though he can't see her. "Not really. We talk every now and then so I don't have a reason to miss him."

Harry nods. She wonders why he's asking her this.

"Do you miss her?"

He nods again, resting his chin on the top of his hand. "I'm miserable right now. It's so pathetic kind of. I don't know what to do."

"I suppose some days are harder than others. Maybe today is just hard for you," she tells him softly.

Stella is careful when she reaches out and places her hand on top of his, giving it a gentle squeeze. Harry tenses up for a moment and then relaxes, smiling as he looks at their hands from the corner of his eye.

"Can I tell you something else?" He asks when she pulls her hand away.

"What is it?"

"My ex girlfriend has a new boyfriend," he states, pushing away from the edge to float onto his back. Stella watches him as he floats there, with his eyes closed.