The Reinvention of Harry Styles

Harry slumped into the seat across from his sister and ducked his head behind the menu as he studied it. “Why did we have to sit outside, Gem?” He whispered.

“Because Molly said you need to be seen with someone other than your manager, so people don’t think you live in his attic.” She explained and put her menu down. “Besides, it’s nice out, and we could both use a little sun.”

“Ha,” Harry snorted. “I just got out of a meeting with Jeff, clearing up a rumor that I do not have a little son.”

“What?” Gemma leaned in and her smile vanished.

“Nothing. It was just a rumor.” He put down his menu and returned her stare. “What?”

“We should take a selfie.” She pulled out her phone. “For the fans. Molly says they’d love it.”

“Do you listen to everything she tells you?” Harry joked, and fixed his hair for the picture.

“She seems to know what she’s talking about. Now lean in. Closer, Harry.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him over before snapping a selfie of the two.

“Let me see that.” He grabbed her phone. “I look bad, let’s do it again.” This time he took the picture, and made sure he was ready so he didn’t look so tired in this picture.

“I’ll text you the pic, so you can put it on your sm,” Gemma said as she took her phone back.

“You want me to post that?” He tilted his head.

“Yes, Dr. Molly’s orders.” Gemma was already speedily typing away on twitter. “How’s this caption: ‘Getting lunch with this sweet creature’?” She grinned back at Harry.

“That’s clever, can I steal that from you? I suppose I should say something to promote my new single…” Harry thought for a moment as he got the picture ready to post on Twitter and Instagram.

“What about. ‘Looking like a couple of ghosts with @GemmaStyles in this rare London sun #NeedATan.” Gemma suggested.

“I don’t really use # though, so, you can have that one, and I’ll take the ‘Sweet Creature’ caption. Considering that song is supposedly about you, it would make more sense if I said it, anyway.” Harry shrugged.

“What? ‘Supposedly’?” Gemma’s eyebrows shot up.

“I’m not at liberty to confirm nor deny anything,” Harry teased as he posted the picture with Gemma’s caption. “I feel like Molly, working my own lyrics into everyday conversation.” Harry laughed to himself.

“Right, anyway….lunch?” Gemma eyed him.


Meanwhile, Molly was at home watching videos of people covering Harry’s album. She found one she really liked, a girl named Daisy who was described as a ‘young Taylor Swift’. Daisy had managed to put a bit more emotion into the few songs she had covered, and Molly thought her voice would really compliment Harry’s. She’d heard him rehearsing with his band and there was something missing, and Molly thought Daisy might be that something.

However, when Harry returned from lunch with Gemma, he didn’t seem to be in the mood to watch someone who was supposedly the ‘younger version’ of his ex-girlfriend cover his music.

"Now that I've got a bit of time off, I can finally see Tom's play. Do you want to come with, and see your ginger lover-boy again?" Harry intended for the question to sound teasing, but he couldn't hide the edge in his tone.

"He's not my 'lover-boy' any more than you are." Molly rolled her eyes.

"Really? You're pretending to be his girlfriend too?" He said quietly, and this time Molly caught that edge he was trying to mask.

"You cannot possibly still be jealous of him?" Molly raised her eyebrows. "We hooked up once, that's it!"

Harry cocked his head. "If you had the chance, you'd do it again, though."

"Are you asking me, or..." Molly couldn't tell if his teasing tone had vanished or if it had never been there to begin with.

Sensing the tension, he suddenly shrugged and changed to topic. "Whatever, Gemma and her boyfriend will be there too if you want to go."

“Her boyfriend?” Molly perked up at that, forgetting Harry’s jealousy. “I haven’t met him yet, but she talks about him all the time. I guess I could see the play again, I was a little distracted the first time we saw it.”

“Why, staring at Tom’s cheekbones too much?”

“No, I was just tired. Gemma and I rushed over to see it after the ‘Dunkirk’ premiere; I couldn’t really follow the plot of the play after seeing something like ‘Dunkirk’.” Molly shrugged. “I’d love to see it again.”

“Alright, I’ll let Jeff know,” Harry mumbled and left with his head in a rain cloud.


The next evening, Jeff, Jeff’s girlfriend Glenne, Harry, Molly, Gemma, and Gemma’s boyfriend Michael, filed into the theater in nearly that order once the house lights had gone down. Harry settled into his seat between Jeff and Molly and tried to relax. Molly and Gemma giggled quietly about something until the play started, and then Molly turned her attention to the stage. She gently laid her hand on the armrest between her and Harry, perhaps inviting him to hold her hand.

Harry heard Jeff shift in his seat, and realize he couldn’t leave Molly hanging. He placed his hand in hers, like any normal couple on a date would. Once he felt Jeff’s eyes stop flicking over to check on them every few minutes, he let her hand slip from his, and tried to enjoy the play.

As the play came to a close, Gemma suggested they meet up with Tom again for a drink, and Molly agreed (a little too eagerly, in Harry’s opinion). He sat in silence as the six of them waited for Tom in a pub. He sipped his drink as Gemma and Molly chatted, until Tom arrived and Molly greeted him with an enthusiastic “Tom!!”

“Liked it so much, you had to see it again?” He joked as he greeted her.

“Harry hadn’t seen it,” Molly wrapped her arm around Harry’s shoulders (since the booth they were in was private enough) and leaned into him, an action Harry barely reciprocated.

“Oh,” Tom leaned back in his seat and looked between the two. “I didn’t realize you two were a thing.” He gave Molly an odd stare, one Molly hoped Jeff would pass off as surprise.

“We like to keep it quiet,” she answered, and Tom nodded, though he didn’t quite understand.

“Nice job tonight, mate,” Harry finally chimed in, and the two conversed about their time filming together.

Molly leaned back in her seat as a thought struck her: ‘Had Harry planned this? Letting Tom see them together so he’d know she was off-limits?’ She shook her head and took another sip of her drink. Harry and Tom were friends, but he seemed to have some odd fixation on him that probably extended back to their ‘Dunkirk’ days together. Perhaps Molly wasn’t the only girl they’d both slept with, or maybe it had nothing to do with a girl at all. Molly suddenly felt like a third wheel, an oddly shaped third wheel that just seemed to mess up the other two wheels.

“I think I’m going to go home early,” she stood up and Gemma looked up at her.

“Are you okay? Let me give you a ride,” Gemma offered.

“I’m fine, just tired. I can just catch a cab,” Molly smiled and put a hand on Gemma’s shoulder until she sat down.

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later,” Gemma watched Molly leave before rejoining the conversation, noting that Harry didn’t seem to notice Molly’s absence.

Molly didn’t wait up for Harry to come home, and went to bed trying to get whatever was bothering her out of her mind.


The next morning, Molly was watching Daisy’s cover of ‘Two Ghosts’ when Harry finally awoke. She paused it, in case he still had a bee in his bonnet, but when she saw him, she realized it was quite the opposite.

“Morning,” he smiled, looking too chipper for someone who had been out that late.

“Have fun with Tom last night?” Molly asked, and he sat down next to her with a cup of coffee.

“Yeah, I just needed a ‘guy’s night out’ I guess.” He leaned back and closed his eyes, nursing a bit of a hangover.

“That’s good, you seemed a little off yesterday.” Molly replied.

“Yeah, about that…” Harry leaned forward and bit his lip while he thought. “Sorry, I guess I owe you an apology.”

“I don’t know about an apology, but maybe an explanation?” Molly smiled back at him and waited.

Harry sighed. “I guess it’s just that... maybe, um,” Harry paused again. “Sometimes the line between ‘fake girlfriend’ and ‘real girlfriend’ get a little blurry...and, uh...hold up, who’s this?” He tilted her laptop screen so he could see it better.

“A girl did an awesome cover of ‘Two Ghosts’, I was going to show you.” Molly turned the screen so he could see it and hit play. “But what were you saying?”

“It’s nothing,” Harry mumbled and leaned closer to the screen to watch a girl who looked and sounded a little like the person he’d written the song about sing ‘Two Ghosts’.

“That’s pretty good. What’s her name?” Harry glanced at Molly.

“Daisy.”

“Daisy? I like that…” Harry watched the video again, and Molly found herself feeling invisible and irrelevant.

Notes

Jealous Harry finally comes clean! (Kinda?) I got the idea for Daisy a while ago, and I hope you like what I have planned for her.

PS. I heard Harry’s cover of Girl Crush from last night’s concert and o m g I wish he’d sing more songs like that! That’s not even my type of music, but he sounded so good singing it!

Thank you for reading, commenting, and voting!! : D