The Reinvention of Harry Styles

“Thank you to everyone who has come out to see us tonight; after your warm welcome toward Daisy last week I had to show her off in person.” Harry paused to smile as the audience cheered for Daisy. “Isn’t she adorable? Aww, I think she’s blushing.”

Daisy was indeed blushing and glared at Harry for a second, so he continued introducing their show.

“I’m happy to see so many of you’ve come out on short notice. The proceeds of the ticket sales will go to one of my favorite charities, so thank you all very much. I’m sure you didn’t pay to come here and listen to me talk, so here’s my new single ‘Two Ghosts’.” With that, Harry and Daisy, and his band began playing.

One fan had a sign that said ‘Larry Who? I ship Haisy’ with a big heart around it, and Harry had to point it out between songs. “That’s clever, isn’t it?” He laughed and turned to Daisy.

Daisy bit her lips and looked at Harry, not really sure what to say about that. She eventually smiled and shrugged, so Harry moved on to the next song. The show was going exactly as they had rehearsed, with some witty banter between ‘Haisy’ in between songs; everything went smoothly as long as Harry stuck to the script (so to speak).

As the show concluded, Harry caught Daisy’s hand so they could bow together, something she clearly wasn’t expecting and it looked a bit awkward. They both waved before leaving the stage, and Daisy exhaled a frustrated sigh once they were back stage.

“It’s okay, it’s only your first show.” Harry tried to comfort her and smiled, before being whisked off to talk with someone, leaving Daisy with Jeff and Molly.

“He’s right, though, it just takes some practice.” Molly smiled.

“It would have been fine except that ‘Haisy’ poster threw me off. I thought posters weren’t allowed in a small venue like this?” Daisy sighed again.

“Well, they aren’t normally. But, we allowed this one.” Jeff explained.

“You allowed that? Why?” A crinkle formed between Daisy’s eyebrows, whether it was from anger or confusion Molly couldn’t tell.

“The fans love ‘Haisy’, and it’s good for sales.” Jeff shrugged, and honestly Molly didn’t have anything to add.

“Doesn’t that bother you?” She said to Molly. “That people are shipping me with your boyfriend?”

Molly shrugged and stammered for a moment. “I mean, they don’t know he has a girlfriend, and no one’s denied ‘Haisy’ so I guess there’s no harm. I just think they want you guys to be best friends, or something.”

Daisy gave her a doubtful look. “Come on, it doesn’t freak you out that there is vivid and graphic fanfiction about Harry and I?”

Molly swallowed. “There’s fanfiction about him and Louis Tomlinson waaaay worse than that. Trust me, I used to write that kind of thing back in high school. I know it is based on nothing but the writer’s imagination.”

Daisy’s eyebrows shot up, and Jeff looked like he wanted to leave but couldn’t think of a polite excuse. “You used to write fanfiction about your own boyfriend?”

Molly blushed, and she and Daisy both broke down laughing. “Not in a long time, but yes, I did.”

“Sooo, has he read any of it?” Daisy cocked her head and smiled teasingly.

“Fuck, I hope not!” Molly got even redder, and the two laughed.

“Uh, I hate to interrupt, but I do need to talk to Daisy about a few things.” Jeff stepped in, and he looked at Molly. “Actually, we both had a few things to talk about.”

“Oh, um, okay.” Daisy seemed nervous.

“You can’t glare at Harry on stage. They can see everything, even if you think they aren’t looking at you, they are. There are probably millions watching this on periscope or youtube, so anything like that will get picked up on,” Jeff started.

“Sorry, I just didn’t like that he was drawing attention to me like that.” She shrugged.

“And if he tries to hold your hand to bow at the end of the show, just go along with it. It’s a normal thing to do.” Jeff continued.

“You want me to just go along with whatever he wants when we’re on stage together?” Daisy seemed offended. “If holding hands is okay, then what’s next? You going to let him kiss me?”

“No.” Molly stepped in, afraid that Jeff would have said ‘yes’. “I think he just means you should try to be ready for anything. Harry’s done this before, he knows how to read a crowd. If he thinks they need a change in pace, just go with it. Like, when he tells one of his lame jokes, if he says ‘knock knock’ just say ‘who’s there?’ and go along with it.” Molly smiled apologetically.

“If he asks you a question, just agree with him. When in doubt, smile. Remember,” Jeff leaned in, “this is about Harry, not you.”

Daisy nodded. “I know, I’m just the sidekick.”

“For now,” Molly added, sensing Daisy was feeling pretty down about that. “This is your introduction. If you make Harry look good, it makes you look good.”

Daisy nodded again. “I can do that.”

“I know you don’t really have a manager right now, but we’d love to take you on.” Jeff smiled sincerely.

Daisy snorted. “I’d rather work for her than you,” and jerked her head toward Molly. “If you’ll excuse me I have to put my guitar away.”

“Well.” Molly sighed and turned to Jeff. “That could have gone better.”

“Want a job?” Jeff joked (or at least Molly hoped he was joking) and smiled.

“Thanks, but no thanks. I’m going to find Harry.” Molly left Jeff and found Harry talking with his stylist about his outfit for an upcoming show. Since abandoning the copy-cat Gucci suits he’d worn in the earlier months of his solo career, he and Molly had tried to figure out what he should wear.

“Why did we decide to ditch them again, Molly?” Harry asked once she was at his side.

“Because we don’t want you to look like Mick Jagger, or Prince, or David Bowie, we want you to look like Harry Styles,” Molly answered. She’d said this many times before, to the point where it sounded like she was repeating a script.

“What’s wrong with them? They all looked very nice,” his stylist rebutted.

“There’s nothing wrong with them, except they aren’t Harry Styles. They looked nice in the 70s, but it’s 2017. Let’s give him a more modern look, something people can actually relate to. We want people to talk about Harry, and now Daisy, not what Harry’s wearing.” She sighed, feeling like a broken record.

“Like what I’m wearing now?” Harry asked and spun to show off his outfit.

“Yes, exactly.” Molly smiled at him, and he wrapped his arm around her. ‘Right, we’re dating….’ This time, it was Molly who nearly forgot about that important detail, though she was quite hungover and not in the best mood. She sighed and let Harry lead her wherever they were going. She could not wait to get back to the hotel, take some more Tylenol, and go to sleep.


“How was your mum?” Harry asked her as they rode to the hotel.

“A little frazzled. She doesn’t have a job, or an income. She thinks at 47 she’s too old to start a career, but what else is she going to do? Live off alimony?” Molly sighed. “My mom and I are a lot alike, but I fortunately inherited some of my father’s business sense and level mindedness, which balances out the crazy I inherited from her.”

“Well if she’s anything like you, your mom must be a very lovely lady,” Harry said.

“Oh wonderful, now you want to fuck my mom, too.” Molly joked, too hungover and tired to catch any of Harry’s subtext.


***

“Hey, um, I don’t know if you got my last voicemail, but if you get this one: please don’t go online, or look me up or anything like that.” Daisy sighed. “You were right to warn me, but don’t worry, I can handle it. His fans are quite, um, enthusiastic, I wouldn’t worry about anything they say. Harry’s very nice, and his girlfriend and I are starting to get along, so things are not as they appear online. If you’ve seen anything about ‘Haisy’ just ignore it. Okay, I have to catch a plane now, but I’ll talk to you later, if you get this message...and don’t forget to pay the electric bill! I think that’s the one we put off last month, so make sure to pay it on time. Okay. I’ll see you later.”


***


On the flight to LA for their next show, Daisy spent the flight working with the PR team because she and Harry were going to be interviewed together for the first time. They had a few kinks to work through after that first show, so occasionally Jeff or Molly would pop in with a suggestion. Other than that, Molly slept the whole flight, or tried to, at least.

When they arrived in LA, she and Harry went straight to his house where, in the privacy of his own home, they would not have to pretend to be dating and share a room. Still feeling the effects of her hangover (she had clearly drunk more than Harry had that night), Molly went right to bed, while Harry stayed up a little longer. He knew he should go to sleep, so he wouldn’t be too jet lagged, but he wasn’t tired. He went for a walk, even though it was nearly 2:30AM, and tried to clear his head.

It was just starting to get light out when he finally returned, and he brought a glass of water up to Molly’s room along with some more Tylenol before finally going to sleep. It felt nice to not only sleep in his own bed, but to not have to worry about rolling over at night and accidentally touching her.

Harry was awoken the next morning by the sound of someone walking through his house. He grabbed his phone, but he’d forgotten to get his charger out of his suitcase last night and it died.

“Harry?” He heard Jeff’s voice call out below.

‘Shit’ Harry carefully crept into Molly’s room next door to wake her up, but he heard Jeff coming up the stairs, so he jumped in bed with her.

“Harry, is that you? I tried calling, but your phone when right to voicemail…” Jeff stopped and stared at the two of them in the guest bedroom, confused.

Equally confused, Molly woke up when she heard Jeff talking, and slowly opened her eyes, but it was too bright so she kept them clamped shut. She reached over to the nightstand for the water Harry had brought her, but ended up finding Harry instead.

“Harry? Why are you…” Her eyes shot open and she slid her hands off him. “Naked?!”

“I always sleep naked.” He looked at her as if to say ‘you know this’ and Molly finally caught a glimpse of a confused Jeff in the doorway.

“I mean, why are you still naked?” She corrected. “We have company, put on some clothes.”

“Yeah, I’ll wait downstairs,” Jeff announced as he turned to go down the stairs. “But hurry, you and Daisy have to be on stage in an hour!”

Harry and Molly scrambled to get ready and got there just in time. Someone did Harry’s hair while he and Daisy warmed up backstage.

“Good luck!” Molly called to both of them before leaving to find something to eat. By the time she returned the show was half over, but Daisy seemed much more adjusted than last time. Harry, on the other hand, looked a bit tired and it was starting to show he hadn’t had his morning coffee. Luckily Daisy was bright and chipper as usual, and more than made up for Harry’s jet lag.

The two had a moment back stage to recover and gather their thoughts after the show before their first ever interview together. Harry finally got some coffee, and once the caffeine started to set in he felt his brain engage at 100% for the first time that day.

“Sorry, what?” He asked now that the fog had cleared.

“The Haisy signs, you saw them, right?” Daisy repeated and Harry nodded. “It’s so annoying.” She shook her head, but Harry just shrugged.

“It’s just something fans do.” He replied, and the two had their hair touched up before the interviewer came over.

The interview was live so fans could send in questions, and the interviewer knew which topics were not allowed, so she was going to moderate the fan questions to keep the interview going. At first, most of the questions sent in were just fans saying ‘HIIII’ and such, but soon real questions started coming in, like ‘how did you two meet’ and ‘when does your tour start’ and ‘will Daisy be on tour with you’. As always Harry gave vague or funny answers, (like, he said he found Daisy in his closet) and Daisy spoke when appropriate.

“Looks like your fans keep bringing up your ship name ‘Haisy’. What do you think about that?” The interviewer asked.

“It’s a clever name-” Harry started.

“I don’t like it.” Daisy interrupted. Behind the camera, Jeff, Molly, and Harry’s PR team froze, and motioned for them to change the subject.

Not noticing, Harry continued. “Why, it’s cute? It sounds like ‘hazy’.”

“So there’s nothing to it, it’s just a name?” The interviewer asked.

“What’s in a name? That which-” Harry started to quote Shakespeare, but Daisy cut him off.

“No,” she laughed, “absolutely not. There is nothing going on between Harry and I, that would be absurd.”

“Would it be?” Harry seemed a bit offended she would dismiss that idea so quickly, considering they’d had such obvious chemistry on stage, and he did not notice Jeff, Molly, or his entire PR team motioning for him to shut up.

“Yes, it would be,” Daisy explained, “because I have a girlfriend.”

Notes

And on that bombshell…
(So Zoe wasn't just her roommate)

The chapter was longer, but I really wanted to end it it here, so I have half of the next chapter written and it should be up in a few days once I finish.

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