Summertime & Butterflies

Olivia didn’t look at Glenne as the three girls squished into the back of the car. There was no question in Olivia’s mind that Glenne was in on Jeff’s sneaky plan, which made her as at fault as he was. Why Glenne didn’t try and talk her idiot boyfriend out of his ridiculous plan was beyond her – Olivia would have never let Harry get away with a stunt like that. But Olivia’s boyfriend wouldn’t have been selfish enough to dream up a scheme like that, so she didn’t have a thing to worry about.

“Did that really just happen?” Gemma spat out, apparently not getting Olivia’s subliminal message about keeping quiet about Jeff. “Since when is Jeff more important than me? Or Olivia, for that matter?” she added, surprising Olivia. It was still a bit odd to her that Gemma was now on her side.

Glenne wrung her hands together, looking up at Gemma with wide eyes. “I didn’t think he was actually going to!” she exclaimed. “He said he wanted to, but…”

“But nothing!” Gemma retorted. “If my mother needed company on the red carpet – which she actually doesn’t, by the way – what makes Jeff think he’s the best person for the job? Weird, but I’d think that maybe like, oh, I don’t know… her daughter might be a better choice.”

Glenne frowned at Gemma, her arms crossing over her chest in a huff. “It’s not my fault,” she pointed out. “I told him I didn’t think anyone would be on board with it, but Jeff never listens to me!”

“Maybe that’s a problem!” Gemma countered back. “My boyfriend listens to me. Does yours?” she queried, turning her attention to Olivia, who did not want to be a part of the conversation at all.

Olivia sighed, rolling her eyes. “Most of the time, I guess…” she answered. “Look, let’s just forget about it, okay? Being pissed off at Jeff is only going to ruin Harry’s day, and we are not about to ruin Harry’s day. Got it?”

“Yeah,” Glenne and Gemma answered, sighing in unison.

Trying to make light of the situation, Olivia channelled her inner teacher and pressed on. “Let’s just look at it in a positive way. We get to have a fun girl’s day with no boys cramping our style. And we can talk about sex without your mother recoiling in horror,” Olivia added, directing her comment to Gemma.

Gemma snorted. “Well, I can,” she corrected. “I don’t want to hear about sex with you and my brother,” she said, making a face.

Glenne sat quietly, her hands clasped in her lap, listening to the other two girls gently rib each other. “Glenne,” Olivia stated, her tone urging the girl to look at her. When she did, Olivia reached across Gemma and touched Glenne’s knee. “We’re not mad at you,” she told her, wondering when she got so level-headed and mature. “It’s a frustrating situation for sure, but… I don’t think I would have wanted to be there with Harry and all of the cameras and everything,” she lied. She wanted nothing more than to be beside him, holding his hand and supporting him every step of the way. But vocalizing that desire wouldn’t help the Glenne’s feelings.

“Speak for yourself…” Gemma muttered before looking at Glenne. She sighed loudly. “I’m not mad at you either,” she huffed out, her words far from believable. “And…” she sighed again, in typical dramatic Styles fashion. “I guess Olivia’s right. We’ll have a fun girl’s day…” She trailed off, leaving her sarcastic comment hanging.

“Good,” Olivia replied, ignoring the facetiousness in Gemma’s words. “Now, let’s take a selfie!” she suggested, mentally rolling her eyes at just how basic she sounded. But she was desperate to make sure the day went over without a hitch, and if playing the part of irritatingly bubbly girl was the way to do so, she would. “Smile!”

The rest of the drive to the theatre was relatively quiet, but as the car rounded a corner near Leicester Square, Olivia’s jaw dropped and she let out a loud gasp. “Holy shit.”

There were more people piled around the theatre than Olivia could have ever imagined, and even more wedged in behind them. With every car that slowly pulled up to the red carpet, the fans cheered and screeched louder each time. Olivia figured there were fans of Tom Hardy or Cillian Murphy in the crowd, but given the amounts of Harry and One Direction signs and posters in the crowd, she couldn’t be certain.

“Jesus Christ…” she breathed out, finally getting a glimpse of the life Harry lived. It was surreal to her to realize that so many of these people, these girls, these fans, were here for Harry – her goofy boyfriend who left his dirty clothes all over the bathroom, ate food off of Olivia’s plate without asking and farted with zero shame. Oh, the farting. Olivia laughed to herself. She loved Harry with all of her heart, but if these girls only knew…

“Is this a war movie premiere, or…?” Glenne asked with a slight chuckle, peering out her window at the crowds. “God, that kid can attract attention!”

“Well, he’s such a fucking egomaniac, we know he loves it,” Olivia remarked with an endearing chuckle. “This is so weird…” she mused, nudging Gemma. “Do you ever get used to this?”

Gemma laughed. “What, that all of these girls are obsessed with my idiot baby brother?” she asked. “The same kid who used to pick his nose and wipe his boogers on me? The same kid who would wear socks to bed until he was ten because he was scared of lions under his bed eating his feet? No… there’s absolutely no getting used to this!”

Olivia echoed Gemma’s laugh. It was weird to her that all of the girls wished they were in her shoes. For a fleeting moment, she wondered if any of them would fit her shoes better than she did. Certainly, they would think so. She tried to push the thought away, but before she did, she pondered how many fan girls had seen a side of Harry that she’d seen. She’d never asked him – she didn’t think he was that kind of rock star – but seeing all of the willing girls, she found herself thinking it would be odd if they hadn’t seen that side of him.

She sighed as the car parked and the driver vacated the front seat to open the door for the girls, wondering why she was thinking about Harry hooking up with fans. Forcing the thought from her mind, she slid out of the car behind Gemma, smoothing her dress down as she straightened up, reminding herself to stand tall and suck in.

The girls had no reason to loiter on the red carpet – save for a few murmurs of Gemma’s name, no one knew who they were. Not to mention, the security guards scattered along the carpet were quick to ensure no one dawdled. They didn’t want the common folk, the contest winners and star’s siblings to be in the frame when pictures of Tom Hardy were being snapped. Little did they know that Olivia had seen one of the stars of the film naked, but she would be keeping that to herself.

“It’s weird how some of them know you,” Olivia commented quietly to Gemma. “Like… you’re just Harry’s sister. No offence,” she quickly added, not wanting to insult Gemma while they were getting along. “But like… I don’t even think I know how many siblings Kevin Richardson has, and he was my favourite Backstreet Boy. A brother or two? Maybe?” Olivia shrugged. “But I definitely couldn’t pick them out of a crowd.”

“That’s because you grew up in the Dark Ages,” Gemma teased lightly. “Before the blessing slash curse of social media. I’ll bet if there was Instagram back when you were in high school, you totally would have followed Kevin’s brothers. But… yeah, it’s fucking weird. You’ll soon find out, though, that these Harry and One Direction fans are straight up fucked. Some are fine. Many are not.”

“Well, that’s comforting,” Olivia weakly joked, looking at the throngs of girls on the sidelines and wondering how many of them would cruelly mock her on Instagram. All of them, she assumed, but then reminded herself that she was a grown, confident woman and the opinions of little girls didn’t matter to her.

Glenne waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about them,” she advised. “Keep your social media private and don’t read fan accounts. And remember that Harry is crazy about you, and any rumours that find their way onto the internet are just that – rumours. There was once one that I was dating Harry, all because we got coffee together!” Glenne shook her head. “They like to think they know everything, but they don’t,” she added in a whisper.

Thinking back to the spring time rumours of Harry dating the food blogger, Olivia nodded. “I know,” she answered. “I do worry about what they’re going to say a lot, but… I know I need to get over that, because it doesn’t matter.”

“Exactly,” Gemma and Glenne answered in unison, sharing a chuckle and appearing to table their disagreement over Jeff’s insolence. For now, at least, but Olivia had a feeling Gemma wasn’t going to let his actions go unadmonished.

The girls finally made it to the end of the red carpet, the lobby doors wide open and welcoming. The smell of popcorn wafted through the doors and Olivia chuckled at the thought of a bunch of people dressed in Gucci and Versace, chowing down on movie theatre popcorn. The smell was intoxicating – she would be being one of those people.

The girls showed their tickets to the man at the door and were directed to go into a door on the left, leading them onto the balcony of the theatre. Judging by the commotion coming from the lower level, that was the section where the fans and contest winners sat. The upper level was reserved for the quote-unquote important people – and girlfriends/sisters/friends of the important people.

“Oh, look, we can watch all the red carpet stuff!” Glenne commented, pointing to the screen, which was broadcasting the arrivals and interviews of all of the cast members. “Bet it’s gonna take the a lot longer to get through than it took us,” she added with a laugh, noticing all of the press staked out along the carpet.

Olivia sat in her chair, pulling her phone from her purse. She wanted to let Harry knew they were in and settled, and to wish him luck once more before his red carpet journey began. But before she could text her thoughts to him, the screams from the red carpet intensified and Olivia looked up at the screen, just in time to see Harry getting out of the car.

“Playing Alex in Dunkirk and making his acting debut, please welcome Harry Styles!”

The screams were deafening, the majority of the crowd proving they were at the premiere for Harry and only Harry. The camera panned to the crowd and in the few brief seconds they showed the audience, Olivia counted four crying girls.

“Jeez…” Olivia commented, watching her boyfriend’s nervous smile fill up the 48 foot screen. “Damn, that boy’s a dime,” she added with a laugh, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees, her hands cupping her chin. She didn’t want to miss a moment of Harry’s red carpeting.

“The cane looks good, too,” Gemma chuckled. “How much you want to bet he’ll be using it even when he doesn’t have to anymore?”

Olivia nodded distractedly. “Oh, a hundred percent,” she agreed, unable to pull her eyes away from the screen. Olivia was seeing another side of Harry she’d never seen before – the poised, self-assured celebrity signing autographs and posing for photos hardly resembled the goofy, pain in the ass boy she was head over heels in love with. Her heart was so full of pride as she watched him, it almost hurt.

The camera focused on a close-up of Harry, his smiling face politely greeting the interviewer. He was so well spoken during the interview, and it was almost miraculous to hear him speak without dropping an F-bomb. He was charming the pants off the interviewer, laughing captivatingly and humbly discussing his role in the film. The pride he had in the film and his role was evident as he spoke, and Olivia felt herself falling in love with him all over again as she witnessed the other side of Harry.

“And your mum’s here at the premiere?” the interviewer was asking Harry, though her words were nearly inaudible over the shouts coming from the crowd surrounding him.

“She is,” Harry answered, nodding in agreement.

“Has she brought anyone else from home here with her?”

Olivia watched as Harry shifted his position, his smile widening. “Uhm, yeah…” he answered. “My mum’s here with my sister and my girlfriend, so uhm, yeah… This will be the first time they’ve seen the film, so I think they’re looking forward to it.”

“Holy shit!” Gemma exclaimed. “He actually said the G word!”

Olivia heard an audible gasp come from the crowd – they were clearly as shocked as Gemma was at the fact that Harry mentioned he had a girlfriend. Olivia was certain the four girls she saw crying in the group would be quickly multiplying.

“Well, he said he wouldn’t be able to keep my name off his lips, so…” Olivia answered with a laugh, though she would be lying if she said she wasn’t surprised. It wasn’t that she thought Harry was fibbing about wanting to talk about her, but she assumed he would be too nervous and preoccupied with questions about the film, he would forget to mention his girlfriend.

“Yeah, it’s just so not like him though!” Gemma answered, swatting Olivia’s knee playfully. “He must be a bit besotted by you,” she teased. “Or scared of what you might do to him if he didn’t keep his promise,” she added with a laugh.

“Oh, there’s Jeff!” Glenne pointed out, though she was the only one who cared about seeing him on the screen, considering he should have been watching the action from the balcony like the girls were. It was funny to Olivia, though she wouldn’t tell Glenne, that Harry didn’t mention he had also brought Jeff and Glenne to the premiere. He must have been quite upset with his friend.

“So, the crowds here are clearly reacting to the news that you have a girlfriend,” the next interviewer commented to Harry. Wordlessly, he simply smirked, but didn’t provide any further details. “You are notoriously private when it comes to your personal life, but is there anything else you’d like to tell us about your mystery girl?”

Harry smirked again, and Olivia could tell he was trying to decide whether or not to answer jokingly or seriously. “Erm… well, she’s absolutely lovely, my mum adores her and I’m very, very happy,” he answered diplomatically. It was a vague answer but it was pleasing to Olivia – she realised that any more details would have made her uncomfortable and though she’d been a brat about it, she appreciated the privacy they had enjoyed.

“Can we keep it focused on the film, please,” a voice off-camera cut in.

Harry laughed. “Sorry, just not allowed to answer any more questions about her, I guess… But I wouldn’t have, anyway, you know that,” he added cheekily.

“Awwww!” Glenne cooed, glancing over at Olivia with a grin on her face. “Isn’t he so sweet? You make him very, very happy! So sweet!”

Olivia smiled back, but out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a few girls seated below them turn at the sound of Glenne’s voice. The girl had a voice that could be heard around the world. She watched the girls whisper together, and then rudely point towards the balcony. Olivia exhaled quietly, nudging Gemma.

“Is it beginning already?”

Gemma glanced to where Olivia gestured, the three girls below them attempting to remain clandestine as they gawked and whispered amongst themselves. “Maybe,” Gemma agreed. “Or maybe not. They might just be looking at me,” she joked, flipping her hair with faux arrogance.

“Or me!” Glenne piped up with a giggle.

Both outcomes were quite likely – the fans knew who both of the other girls were. Maybe it was the spotlight effect, maybe it was Harry’s announcement of being off the market, but Olivia just knew they were looking at her and trying to determine if she was Harry’s girl and if she was qualified enough to be his girl. She turned her attention back to the screen, watching her man on the red carpet and ignoring the girls who wished he was their man.

~*~*~*~

As the stars of the show made their way down the red carpet, the auditorium quickly filled up. Anne and Jeff had joined the three girls on the balcony, buzzing about the events on the red carpet. Olivia no longer wished she’d been with Harry. If she had, he likely wouldn’t have announced that he was in a relationship, and he needed to. Still, she couldn’t help but roll her eyes as Jeff boasted about talking to Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy.

The lights dimmed and an announcement came through the speakers, asking everyone to take their seats. There was an initial commotion as the anticipation filled the air, but in true British fashion, the crowd settled down rather quickly. Another announcement came through the speakers, asking the audience to please welcome the director of Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan.

The crowd erupted in cheers as the director came onto the small stage. He began speaking about the movie and what an experience it had been, but Olivia wasn’t paying attention. She just wanted to see Harry.

Finally, Christopher Nolan asked the audience to help him in welcoming the cast. The group of men came onto the stage to a standing ovation, the sight of Harry standing with an Oscar winner and other well-known actors surreal. Anne reached across the empty seat reserved for Harry and touched Olivia’s arm.

“Isn’t he so handsome?” she gushed in a whispered tone. “Oh, I’m just so proud of him!”

Olivia smiled, nodding in agreement. “Me too,” she answered, unable to keep her eyes off her handsome boy. “He sure cleans up nice,” she added jokingly. Even when they were having a lazy day at home, Harry was still a smoke show.

Finally, after what seemed like a decade, Christopher Nolan said he hoped everyone enjoyed the film and stepped off the stage with the cast following behind. The sound of applause echoed through the theatre as the cast and crew made their way to their seats in the balcony.

Olivia met Harry’s eyes as he rounded the corner and began making his way down the aisle towards his group. He stopped in front of Gemma and Anne, giving each of them a hug before stopping in front of Olivia.

“Hi, sweetheart,” he murmured, running his hands along her jawline before pulling her towards him and pressing a deep kiss against her lips. The fact that the entire lower audience had turned in their seats to watch the stars take theirs wasn’t lost on Olivia, but she didn’t care about them. She only cared about kissing her man. And she was pleased that he only cared about kissing his girl.

“Hi Super Star,” Olivia greeted back, taking Harry’s hand as they settled back into their seats. “So, I’m lovely, eh?” she added in a whisper, squeezing Harry’s hand.

He grinned at her. “The loveliest,” he affirmed, squeezing her hand back. “Was that… okay?” he wondered as an afterthought.

Olivia laughed, resting her head on Harry’s shoulder. “Of course it was,” she assured him. “Thank you,” she told him, her thanks more because he finally announced he had a girlfriend and less for the compliment – though she appreciated that too.

Harry snaked his arm across Olivia’s shoulders, dropping a kiss on the top of her head. “Of course,” he answered, letting out a shaky sigh as the movie began. “Promise me you won’t make fun too much if I suck?”

“Oh, I would make fun of you, but you don’t have to worry because I know you won’t suck,” she whispered back, remembering what the director had said about Harry during his red carpet interview. He’d raved about Harry, and judging the success of his past films, Mr. Nolan knew what he was talking about.

Olivia hadn’t seen the movie yet, of course, but she knew when Harry’s scene was coming up, as his grip on her hand was painfully tight. She tickled his knuckles with her free hand, causing him to glance in her direction.

“Bit tight, sweetie,” she whispered to him, rubbing her fingers after Harry released her hand. She cracked her knuckles before taking his hand again. “Just calm down…”

Harry nodded, exhaling softly as he bounced his leg up and down nervously. Olivia ran her thumb across his knuckles comfortingly, hoping Harry could relax enough to focus on the film and enjoy his scenes.

As the movie continued, Olivia found herself completely enthralled and almost forgot her boyfriend was in the film. She knew the story of Dunkirk, and while it wasn’t a part of her teaching curriculum, she had a feeling it would be after the movie was released. She found her heart was racing throughout the entirety of the film and during times, was quite literally on the edge of her seat. It wasn’t a typical war movie, with the blood and gore often found in modern retellings. It was epic, yet intimate and Olivia knew she wasn’t being biased when she found herself thinking it was a masterpiece.

She wasn’t the only one who thought so. As the final scene played and the burning plane filled the screen before fading to black, the entire theatre broke into applause, standing on their feet as the thunderous cheers filled the room.

Harry stood with the rest of the theatre, looking stunned as Anne stepped past Olivia and enveloped him in her arms. She was crying with pride, and Olivia felt the prickle of a few tears in her eyes as well. She looked to the lower level; the audience facing the balcony as they directed their applause to the cast and crew.

She waited patiently for Anne to release her son before encircling her arms around Harry’s waist and covering his lips with her own. “I am so proud of you,” she whispered to him, her hug tightening. “You were incredible.”

“You really think so?” asked Harry, his grin apparent in the sound of his voice. “It was a good film, wasn’t it?”

When Olivia nodded against Harry’s chest, he lifted her chin and grinned. “Phew,” he sighed dramatically. “Now that the hard part’s over… I think it’s time to get drunk with my girl!”

Notes