The Reinvention of Harry Styles

Harry was too preoccupied going over his itinerary for the filming of his BBC special as they drove up north, to notice how excited Molly was as they got closer to his home town. She wasn’t joking when she said she’d written fanfiction about this moment, and had dreamed about it when she was in college.

When they arrived in Holmes Chapel, she was overwhelmed as she looked out the window. ‘This is it...this is where he grew up…’ She thought as she pressed her face to the car window.

“Molly,” Harry repeated, since she didn’t respond the first time. “You okay?”

“Yes!” She turned back to him with a grin plastered on her face.

“Are you sure? You look like a five-year-old who’s had too much sugar.” Harry started to laugh, and Molly nodded that she was fine. “You really weren’t joking, were you? Tell me, though, are you excited because you get to see where Harry Styles, the most handsome member of One Direction, grew up? Or, is it because you get to see where your boyfriend used to live?”

Molly froze for a moment, still wide eyed with excitement. “Both, since you’re the same person.”

“You know what I mean,” Harry tilted his head and smirked at her expression. He glanced out the window as the car came to a stop. “We’re here.”

“Here? As in, the house you grew up in?” Molly’s head snapped around to look at the house.

“Kinda, no. This is my mum’s house. I mentioned we’d be staying with her, right?” Harry slipped from the car and grabbed their suitcases from the back.

“I can get that,” Molly offered, but he wouldn’t hear it.

“If my mum saw me letting you carry your own suitcase, I’d never hear the end of it.” Harry said quietly and shook his head.

“First of all, I am an independent woman and I can carry my own suitcase. Secondly, I’m more worried about anyone else seeing us together like this.” Molly’s thoughts were interrupted as Gemma ran out to greet them.

“Molly!” She embraced her in a warm hug and the two walked arm in arm back up toward the house. “Oh, hey little brother.” She added.

“Nice to see you too, Gems,” Harry answered sarcastically, and Gemma stuck her tongue out at him.

“How do you put up with him?” She exasperatedly asked Molly.

“I’m only dating him to get to his cool older sister,” Molly quietly joked, and Harry pouted.

“What has gotten into you kids?” Anne laughed as she opened the door to greet them.

“It’s this northern air, I think. It brings back memories,” Gemma joked as she hugged her mom.

Anne gave Harry a hug, before moving on to Molly. “It’s so nice to see you again.”

Molly awkwardly returned the hug, suddenly feeling nervous about seeing Anne. They’d met before at the ‘Dunkirk’ premiere, but things were different now that Molly was dating her son. Anne, however, did not seem any different, and didn’t notice Molly’s nervousness.

“I’ve just put dinner in the oven, and I’ve made up your usual rooms if you’d like to bring your things up.” Anne explained, and Harry started up the stairs with their suitcases, Molly in tow. “We can put Molly in the guest bedroom at the end of the hall.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Harry called back to her.

“What? Is she not staying?” Anne asked, and beside her, Gemma giggled quietly.

“No, she’s staying.” Harry continued up the stairs with Molly right behind him.

“I thought they were just pretending to date,” Anne whispered to Gemma.

“Oh Harry…” Gemma rolled her eyes. “He didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?” Anne looked worried and looked back up the stairs toward the room Harry and Molly had gone into. “Harry!!” She yelled, and started up the stairs after him.

Still giggling, Gemma shook her head. “Molly, let’s go find something to drink.”

Not wanting to be alone with Harry and his mom, Molly eagerly descended the stairs and joined Gemma.

“Thank you,” Molly whispered to her. They could hear Harry and Anne talking upstairs, and both were glad to not be a part of that. Gemma found something alcoholic for them and started mixing their drinks. “Does she not like me?”

“No, that’s nonsense. Why wouldn’t she like you?” Gemma smiled reassuringly.

“Judging by her reaction, and whatever they’re discussing now,” Molly gestured back up the stairs where Harry and Anne were talking, but not loud enough for her to make out what they were saying. “It’s not exactly the reaction I was hoping for.”

“She’s just mad because Harry didn’t tell her you guys were dating.” Gemma explained. “Honestly, I’m shocked he didn’t. This is the kind of thing he would have talked to her about. He’s always consulted with her before asking a girl out; they’re pretty close like that. She’s probably just worried that he’s growing up, that she’s losing her little boy, and he’s replacing her, or whatever.”

“What? I can’t replace her, that’s silly, she’s his mother.” Molly seemed baffled. She knew Harry was close with his mom, but this seemed ridiculous.

“Well, there comes a time in a guy’s life when his mum is no longer the most important woman in his life,” Gemma winked, and it took Molly a second to figure out what she was hinting at.

“Wait, are you trying to imply….? No, no no no, we’ve been dating for like three days, don’t say that!” Molly leaned in, and quietly added, “And don’t let him hear you, he might get ideas.”

“It certainly feels like more than three days, you know that. He’s definitely cared about you a lot longer than that.”

“Well, for me it’s only been three days, so enough of that.” Molly whispered, and heard Anne and Harry finally coming downstairs.

“Whatever you say…” Gemma added with a teasing smile as her mom and brother entered the room.

Anne smiled and nodded at Molly before continuing to the kitchen to check on dinner. Harry slipped his hand around Molly’s lower back, and he leaned over to kiss her head. “What’re you girls chatting about?”

“Nothing,” Molly said quickly, and looked at Gemma.

“Just girl things,” Gemma smiled and poured Harry a drink.

“Uh oh, I know what that means. you were talking about me, weren’t you.” Harry scrunched up his nose.

“We have better things to talk about than you,” Gemma teased, and Anne appeared from the kitchen.

“We still have about an hour on the roast,” she announced and Gemma poured a drink for her mom.

“How about a quick game of scrabble?” Gemma suggested.

“I love scrabble; what do you say, love?” He turned to Molly.

Molly froze. Harry’d called her ‘love’ before - it was an affectionate term he, and many others, used - but now, it sounded so different coming from his mouth. In reality, it sounded the same, but to Molly that term now carried a different weight.

‘He calls everyone “love” get over it Molly’ she thought, and smiled. “Scrabble sounds amazing.”

Gemma set up the game in the living room and, being writers, Molly thought she and Gemma would have the upper hand. Yet, halfway through the game, Molly found herself struggling to keep up.

“Hey, so, because I’m American, is it okay if I use American spellings?” She asked, and watched as they pondered her question. “I just don’t have the letter ‘u’.”

Gemma shrugged. “I guess so.”

“What’s your word, honey,” Anne smiled, and Molly bit her lip before laying out her letters.

“Oh, umm….” Harry tilted his head to see the word better. He was expecting the word ‘color’ or favorite’ or really, any actual word.

“Whats ‘jhlkxz’?” Gemma laughed.

“Oh, you guys don’t use that word over here?” Molly scratched her head and tried to keep from smiling.

A beeping from the kitchen interrupted their laughter. “That must be dinner,” Anne stood up and left the three snickering.

“Saved by the bell, Winthrope.” Gemma teased.

“If that were a real word, you would have cleaned us all out. The ‘x’ was on a triple letter square,” Harry added as he picked up the letters off the board.

Anne called them into dinner, and as the four sat around the table eating, Harry talked about his upcoming BBC special.

“Ax throwing? Oh, Harry, please be safe,” Anne interrupted.

“Mum, don’t worry. This is 1000 times safer than shooting the ‘Sign of the Times’ video.” He reassured her.

“Don’t remind me of that,” Anne brought her hand up to her forehead.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine, mum,” Harry patted her hand.

“So, what are you doing tomorrow while Harry’s off giving mum a heart attack?” Gemma turned to Molly.

Molly shrugged. “I’m not sure, I was hoping to look around town a bit.”

“I’d love to show you around!” Gemma smiled.

“Okay, as long as we can see it first!” Molly grinned.

“See what?”

“The bakery, of course!” Molly squealed, and Harry rolled his eyes, but laughed.

Gemma nodded. “Okay, we’ll head to the bakery first, maybe pick up some breakfast there.”

The next morning, as promised, Gemma took Molly to the bakery and Molly had her fangirl moment. The two ate breakfast, and then spent the rest of the morning looking at shops and touring the area. They finally stopped for lunch at a cafe, and sat outside because it was a very nice day out.

“I’m glad you got to see it in the sunshine,” Gemma commented.

“Me too, I’m not a fan all the rain you guys have over here,” Molly scrunched up her nose, but smiled as she saw their food was coming. “Thank god, I’m starving.”

After a few minutes, Gemma put down her fork and looked at Molly thoughtfully for a moment.

“What?” Molly asked as she noticed. “Do I have something in my teeth?” Molly self consciously pressed her lips together.

“No, no it’s not that. I just…” Gemma leaned forward. “I have a proposition for you.”

“Oh?” Molly looked up, but kept eating.

“Harry mentioned that you felt...trapped, in a way, because you can’t really have a job - a real job, that is - while you’re dating him. He knows you’re very independent, and he’s worried that you might feel...suffocated? Or get tired of being stuck with him all the time, and eventually leave him.”

“Oh,” Molly repeated, and this time set down her fork.

“I know you guys have your weird ‘pretending to date’ arrangement where you help him fix his solo career, and that is practically a full time job. But, I would like to offer you a non-Harry related job, so you don’t get sick of him.”

“What kind of job?”

“I think we should write an advice column together, for girls like us. People write in with their problems, and we take turns answering them. Maybe, once or twice a week, depending on how many questions our readers send in.” Gemma explained.

“So, like one of those ‘Dear whatever’ advice columns.” Molly twirled her fork in her salad as she thought.

“Exactly. We could call our column ‘Dear Molly and Gemma’ if you’d like. I think that sounds pretty nice, actually.”

“And this would be a syndicate kind of thing?” Molly asked, and Gemma nodded.

“Yeah, mostly for places I’ve already written for. I showed a few of them the interview you did with Daisy, and they really liked it.” Gemma smiled. “I know you probably need to think about it, but let me know-”

“No, I’ll do it.” Molly answered quickly, and Gemma raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Harry’s right: I do want some type of work that does not involve him. Nothing against him, I just know I’ll get tired of him quickly otherwise. I mean, we live together, kind of work together, I go everywhere with him, and now we’re even dating!” Molly laughed. “So yes, I would love to have something to do other than Harry.”

Gemma tilted her head. “Ummm…”

“Yeah, that didn’t come out right,” Molly blushed. “I mean, it’ll be nice to do something that doesn't involve Harry.”

“Okay,” Gemma smiled. “Because considering what you told me last time…”

“I’d forgotten about that, thanks. I really don’t have any intention of talking about my sex life with you.” Molly rested her head in her hands and tried to cover her face in embarrassment.

“Thank you,” Gemma smiled and took a sip of her tea.

“Although, if it’s okay, there’s one thing-”

Gemma held up her hand to stop her.

“No, it’s not bad,” Molly continued. “Nothing graphic, I promise.”

Gemma groaned and shook her head, knowing it was no use resisting and Molly was going to say it anyway.

“It’s just that,” Molly bit her lip. “Things are different now that we’re dating. Before, it was purely physical, lust and what not.”

Gemma leaned forward to rest her head in her hands. “Those are not words I want to hear about my brother.”

“Just pretend he’s not your brother, if that helps,” Molly suggested, and continued. “Now that we’re dating, he’s so much more affectionate, and careful, and touchy-feely-”

“Sex is supposed to be touchy-feely.” Gemma interrupted, and mentally tried to erase this conversation as they were having it.

“But it’s not just in a sexual way, it’s like, hand holding, and hugging, and other little things like that,” Molly continued.

Gemma burst out laughing and finally looked up at Molly. “Those are normal things couples do when they date.

“I know, but-”

“No ‘buts’, this is what dating is. You’ve done that before, right?”

“Yeah, but…” Molly sighed. “It’s just different with him.”

“Good different, or bad different?”

Molly shrugged, and looked back at her salad.

“You’ll figure it out, I’m sure.” Gemma answered. “You can always talk to him about it, you know.”

“Is this what our advice column is going to be like?” Molly laughed.

“Maybe, though hopefully there won’t be any questions about Harry,” Gemma added, and changed the subject. She’d learned too much about her little brother’s sex life this afternoon and wanted to get far away from that topic. She and Molly spent the afternoon looking at some of the places she and Harry had hung out when they were growing up. By the end of the day they were exhausted, but Molly was pleased.

‘It was even better than the fanfiction,’ she thought as she settled into bed with Harry that night.

Notes

I hand wrote half of this chapter by candlelight because our power has been out for the past few days! It came on last night, so we’re good now. We were finally able to finish watching Stranger Things season 2 (on Halloween, it was perfect!). Harry’s BBC special airs tomorrow, and I really hope it’s available online somewhere. I’m very curious to see what they’re going to do (besides the ax throwing!)

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