The Reinvention of Harry Styles

Molly stood on the side of the street in front of the building Jeff’s office was in. She anxiously watched for Harry’s car, and looked back to see if Jeff had followed her outside to continue their conversation. When she called him this morning and said she wanted to talk, she was optimistic when he said he wanted to talk to her too. Yet, her brief conversation with him at reception after she ended her phone call with Harry proved that she had misjudged his tone on the phone that morning.

Harry pulled up to the curb, and Molly jumped into the front seat quickly, while looking over her shoulder for Jeff. “Go, go go go!” She said breathlessly.

“Uh, okay...” Harry drove off, back into traffic, not sure why Molly was in such a hurry. “Um, I hate to tell you, but-”

“What am I sitting on?” Molly scooted over in her seat. “Oh…” She looked up at Harry, and as they stopped at a red light, his eyes met hers.

“It’s nothing.” He reached over to grab the squashed flowers and tossed them in the back seat.

“Were those… are those flowers?” Molly asked and settled into her seat.

“Yeah, just, uh, left over from, nothing.” Harry was glad the light finally changed. “Why were you in such a hurry?"

“Uh…” Now it was Molly’s turn to be embarrassed. “When I called Jeff after you left this morning, he said he wanted to talk to me as well, and I assumed we were on the same page.”

“Uh oh?” Harry glanced at her.

“I thought he was interested in hiring me, or letting me be a consultant at least - you know, provide some fan insight.” Molly took a deep breath. “But, I guess he was a little upset about Daisy; he thought, maybe, I had set you guys up, that I told her to say that, or that I was trying to embarrass him.”

“What? He’s trying to blame that on you?” Harry could not believe it. He almost wanted to turn around and go back to Jeff’s office to give him a piece of his mind.

“He’s just mad, and trying to put the blame on someone, I guess I’m an easy target because I’m the one who found her online.” Molly shrugged. Honestly, she was just embarrassed she thought Jeff had wanted to hire her, and wanted to drop the subject.

“He can’t do that, though, you don’t even work for him? Seriously, you’re my girlfriend and you’re just trying to help out because he was failing at his job.” Harry shook his head and wondered if this would count as reasonable cause to fire his manager.

“Harry, speed limit,” Molly reminded him as she caught a glimpse of the speedometer.

“Sorry, I just can’t tolerate that kind of behavior from my manager.” Harry took a deep breath and they pulled into his driveway.

“Harry,” Molly said as she got out of the car. “Are you going to leave those flowers in here?”

“Uh, I guess I should bring them in.” Harry returned to the car to grab the flowers, but Molly had already snatched them up.

“They still look nice, we can put them in a vase.” Molly pulled the plastic back to inspect them, and noticed a card. “Were these from a fan?”

She looked up at Harry as he retrieved something to put the flowers in. “Um, yes?” He filled the vase with water and set it on the counter.

“Well, this card attached to them says, ‘to my special lady’, so….” Molly raised her eyebrow. “Were you in drag?”

Harry laughed nervously. “Yeah, right, actually, um…”

“I know it’s only 12, but do you want a drink?” Molly pulled a bottle of whisky off the shelf and held it up.

“Sure, maybe just a little.” Harry grabbed some glasses.

“So, you were getting your hair cut, dressed in drag, and a fan handed you these flowers?” Molly asked and poured them a bit more than a little whisky.

“Well, I never actually made it to the haircut, I got distracted.” Harry took a sip.

“Good, I always liked you better with long hair.” Molly smiled.

“Really?” Harry raised his eyebrow.

“Oh my god yes. I wanted to run my hands through it and braid it; it looked so luscious,” Molly smiled and bit her lip. “I cried when you cut it.”

“Really?” Harry almost laughed. “I had to do it, for the movie.”

“I know, but you could have grown it back,” she whined, and reached up to ruffle his hair.

“I don’t know,” Harry shrugged. “I just didn’t want to be ‘the guy with the hair’ you know?”

“Harry with the long hair. Is that like Becky with the good hair?” Molly laughed.

“No, I don’t really plan on having an affair with Jay-Z.” Harry grinned.

“Oh look, my glass is empty.” Molly smiled and refilled her glass. “So, back to the flowers. A fan just handed you these flowers, with the wrong card on it.”

“The card looks generic…” Harry flipped the card over and inspected it.

“Harry, this is your handwriting…” Molly pointed out..

“Is it really? I hadn’t noticed...” Harry shrugged and bit his lip.

“Come on Harry, admit it...” Molly leaned forward on the counter. “They were for Jeff.”

Harry laughed and reached for the bottle of whisky. “Yup, you got me. Jeff is my special lady.”

“I knew it!” Molly laughed and grabbed the bottle back from him to refill her glass too. “They’re nice flowers, though, I like them.”

“You do?” Harry perked up.

“Yeah, if I hadn’t sat on them, I’d think they looked very nice. Did you pick these out yourself?” Molly looked through the flowers.

“No, I let the florist do it.” Harry conceded.

“So, you said, ‘I want something that says ‘I love my manager’.’” Molly laughed.

“Exactly.” Harry nodded and grinned. “Hey, you might want to pace yourself there.” He put his hand on the bottle as she reached for it again.

“Sorry, I get horny when I’m drunk.” Molly giggled. “Or, I get drunk when I’m horny?” She thought for a moment as she tried to work this out.

“Are you trying to say you want to take this upstairs?” Harry thought this might be a suitable distraction to get her mind off the flowers.

“Or, right here is fine.” Molly hoisted herself up on the counter and kicked off her shoes.

“Or, we could go upstairs, because that’s where the condoms are?”Harry tried to take her hand.

“Only if you carry me.” Molly wrapped her legs around him, pulling him closer.

“You want me to carry you? Alright.” Harry shrugged, and pulled her closer, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“This is just like my fanfiction. Except you had longer hair,” Molly reached up to ruffle his hair again, wishing it was longer.

“Stop mentioning the fanfiction.” Harry laughed, and carried her upstairs to his bedroom.


Twenty minutes of passionate love-making later, Harry and Molly lay in bed catching their breaths.

“Okay, Harry,” Molly rolled over to look at him and propped herself up on her elbow. “Now that that’s out of the way... who were the flowers for?”

Harry took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling as he tried to get his head back in order. “Ummm…..I just thought, you know, you’ve been doing a great job, and, I wanted to show you my appreciation.”

“Thank you, I’m not sure I deserve that, though.” Molly rolled on her back and looked up at the ceiling.

“Nonsense, of course you do.” Harry rolled over to face her. “You know, I was going to get you some daisies, but I decided not to…”

“Thank you.” Molly glanced over at him. “I do like daisies though.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Harry rolled on his back again and fidgeted with the hem of the blanket.

It was quiet for a moment as they both contemplated in silence. Finally, Molly turned to him, and rolled over so she was right next to him.

“Harry, be honest with me.” She said.

“Okay?” He glanced at her, then back at the ceiling.

“No, really honest. Look at me.” She slid over and rolled on top of him, so she could look him in the eye. “Harry?”

“Molly?” He replied and looked up at her. She was naked, and a bit distracting, and Harry hoped that the lower half of his body, which she was sitting on, would cooperate.

She took a deep breath as she sat on his lap, watching the butterfly rise and fall as he breathed. “I don’t think Jeff wants me interfering with your career anymore, being your mini-manager so to speak. So, what are we going to do about that?”

Harry blinked and tried to clear the image of her breasts, floating right above his head, from his mind. “I don’t know, you can maybe help me fix my career other ways? I mean, there are still many things you can help me with, as my fake girlfriend.”

“You mean, besides this?” Molly raised her eyebrow.

“Well, this is different, right?” Harry replied. “This wasn’t part of the initial deal, but it’s certainly mutually beneficial, I think-”

Molly cut him off with a kiss, and held his face in her hands. “Okay, Harry, I’m going to be honest, and this isn’t just the whisky talking. I think you, maybe, want to take this fake relationship a little further, and make it not quite so fake?” She wasn’t sure where this sudden confidence had come from, but something about their phone conversation that morning made her think she wasn’t wrong.

Harry had no response, and stared wide-eyed back at her.

“Alright, you don’t need to say anything now.” She kissed his nose. “I’m going to take a shower.”

Harry remained immobile in bed as she climbed into his shower. “Hey Harry?” She called and stepped out of the shower.

He sat up to look at her.

“I miss the bathtub back in London, when are we going back?” She asked and adjusted the shower.

“Um,” Harry cleared his throat. “Soon, if you want.”

“I really do miss that bathtub. You know, I always imagined you’d just climb in there with me one day. You know, all those times you decided to just pop in and visit me in the bath….”

‘Same’ Harry thought and watched her climb back into the shower. ‘Wait, should I join her?’

Harry slipped out of bed and joined her in the shower. “I hope you don’t mind… I thought maybe we could conserve water and share the shower.”

“Of course, this shower is certainly big enough for the two of us.” Molly turned around and handed him some soap. Harry took the soap, and began washing her back once she’d turned around again.

“Oh, um, no thanks.” Molly took a step away. “I meant that you could wash yourself with it.”

“Right.” Harry turned and faced his shower head.

“I’m not sure having four shower heads for two people is really considered conserving water.” Molly smirked.

“True, but it’s better than four shower heads for one person,” Harry replied with a half smile. “But, um, yeah; I’m not exactly here just to save water.”

“Oh?” She turned around to face him and nearly ran into his chest they were so close.

“No, the thing is...” Harry took a deep breath. “You’re right.”

“About…?” Molly was pretty sure she knew about what, and couldn’t find it in her to make a snarky comment like ‘I usually am right’. Instead she waited for Harry to answer.

“I’ve come to see you as more than just my fake girlfriend. And I don’t just mean the friends-with-benefits thing. I hate to admit it, but...” Harry finally broke eye contact. “It wasn’t until yesterday, when Daisy said she had a girlfriend and therefore became completely unavailable to me, that I finally realized it. It’s like she was the sun, and you were the moon; when the sun finally set, I realized the moon had been there all along.”

Notes

That’s so cliche Harry! But it’s an accurate description, and I’ve been wanting him to say that ever since I came up with Daisy's plot. I wrote this immediately after I posted the last chapter and promised myself I’d wait to post it, and it’s been two days and I’m impatient, so here it is : )