The Reinvention of Harry Styles

Molly and Harry awoke on the couch in her mother’s apartment late the next morning feeling groggy and sore from sleeping on the couch entangled in each other’s arms. The sun cast short shadows as it neared midday, and the city outside was buzzing with the early lunch crowd. Molly tried to stretch and sit up, but Harry tightened his grip.

“Harry, wake up,” Molly shook him, and tried to get out of his grasp.

“I am awake,” he answered without opening his eyes.

“Then let go of me.” She tried to wiggle out of his arms and laughed at his stubbornness as he held on tight.

“I just want to lay here with you for awhile longer,” he finally sat up and looked at her. Harry leaned closer and trailed kisses up her neck and across her jaw before finally reaching her mouth. “Just let me love you goodbye.”

Molly laughed at Harry’s use of a One Direction song, but stopped. “Wait, goodbye?”

“The European leg of the tour starts soon, and I have to leave this afternoon.” He answered hesitantly, and paused for such a long time that Molly wondered if he had reached the end of his sentence.

“Right, we’re going to London for a few days to acclimate to the time change, before the show in Paris on the 25th…” Molly cocked her head and watched him closely, as Harry nearly flinched at the word ‘we’.

“Actually,” he finally said. “I’m going on my own.”

“What?” Molly instinctively leaned back, feeling a little hurt by his words, though it was clear Harry was having a difficult time saying them.

“Jocelyn...she’s brought in some new people to help my PR team. She hated that she had somehow been dragged into this ‘girlfriend rumor’ and wanted it taken care of as quickly as possible.” Harry took a deep breath before continuing. “So, since neither of us want to go public, the PR team has strongly advised we take extra precautions not to be seen together.”

“We can do that. I’ll just stay in the hotel, and we can even travel separately if that’s what it takes.”

“It’s a bit more than that, unfortunately. The thing is, if I won’t acknowledge that yes, I have a girlfriend -which probably wouldn’t stop the rumors, anyway- then the next option is to appear single.” Harry couldn't meet Molly’s eyes as he said these final words. He didn’t want it to be this way, but it was the safest way to keep Molly anonymous.

“Oh,” Molly tried to respond calmly. “I see.” She didn’t entirely understand, nor want to know what exactly that meant, or how they would execute that plan, but it was clear she would not be a part of it. “I understand, really. When I was just a fan, I saw how jealous your fans got whenever you were rumored to have a girlfriend. There’s just something about knowing that your celebrity crush is single that makes you like them even more, even though there is a 0% chance of there ever being a possibility of actually dating them.”

“0%, uh?” Harry cracked a smile and Molly’s mood lifted for a moment.

“Okay, I’m clearly the exception, though,” she conceded and eventually smiled. “But I see how acknowledging you have a girlfriend might steer away some fans who feel that way, and considering how fragile your fanbase is right now, you don’t need to upset them any more.”

“Fragile?” Harry raised an eyebrow.

“Well, you’re still winning over their trust again, if that’s the right word. It’s going to take a while to fix the image issue, so I guess this is probably the best plan for now.” Molly didn’t like it, but she knew she only disliked it for selfish reasons. She knew Harry wasn’t choosing his career over her, because that wasn’t the case at all. Besides, she wanted what was best for his career more than he did, it seemed at times. “I just wish it didn’t suck so much,” she added quietly.

“I’m sorry, I wish there was a way-”

“We’ll talk every day, and I can visit,” Molly forced a smile and looked Harry in the eye, seeing the same sadness in his moss-toned eyes that she felt. “They say distance makes the heart grow fonder.”

Harry nodded in agreement, though he had never found that cliche to be true. “It’s just, you’ve been a big part of my life since, basically, the day we met three months ago. I’ve grown used to you being there by my side, telling me if I’ve done something stupid, or affirming the good decisions. And then of course there’s…” Harry’s lip quivered and he got quiet and waited for his emotions to calm down a bit.

“I know,” Molly curled up against him again and placed her head on his chest, just below his chin. “I’ll miss you too.”

They lay like that for a while, memorizing the way their bodies fit together and cherishing the moment. Molly was almost lulled back to sleep as her head rose and fell with Harry’s breaths, but she remembered something he had said. “I know you were probably just teasing me by quoting ‘Love You Goodbye’ like that, but if that was an offer, I’d gladly accept.”

A smile spread across Harry’s lips, and he leaned forward to kiss her. “One more taste of your lips just to bring me back,” he kissed her again, ”to the places we’ve been, and the night’s we’ve had.” Harry skipped ahead in the song, cutting out the unnecessary lines about breaking up, and trailed kisses back down her jaw to her neck, and let his hands wander. “Won’t you give it to me one last time…” Harry re-positioned Molly’s legs a little so she was straddling his hips and was almost lined up, but paused to look her in the eye as he delivered the last line of the song: “Oh, baby let me love you goodbye.”

Molly nodded, unable to find words as she ached in anticipation. “I think I like this version of the song better,” she snickered, and let Harry continue ‘loving her‘ goodbye.


Molly thought they’d see the Eiffel Tower together, try some authentic pizza in Italy, visit his mum again before the Manchester show. Molly thought she’d get to explore new places, like Stockholm and Amsterdam, with Harry, she thought they’d see the world together on his tour.

Instead, she took turns staying in her mom’s guest bedroom, and visiting her dad when her mom had ‘guests’ over (most weekends, it seemed). They were both sympathetic to her situation, and her mom tried to keep her distracted, but what Molly needed most was to remember who she was before Harry had come into her life. As he had pointed out, they had spent a lot of time together during the course of their odd relationship and were by no means a normal couple - even if he wasn’t popstar Harry Styles, they still couldn’t be considered ‘normal’.

On the night of his first show in Paris, the one she had hoped to watch from the wings of the stage just out of sight, like she usually did, her friends Lilly and Alexa texted her and asked if she wanted to come over for a ‘viewing party’.

“Viewing? What are we viewing?” Molly asked, though she really didn’t feel like getting out of her pajamas and preemptively planned on turning down their invitation.

“Harry’s first show in Paris, of course!” Alexa laughed. “We’ve been watching most of them on live streams and periscope.”

Molly hadn’t even thought about watching his show, not like that at least. She and Harry had texted all day, so the concert was on her mind, but she assumed she would just hear about it from Harry afterwards.

“Will there be alcohol?” Molly asked, and Alexa answered affirmatively. “Then I’ll be right over.”

Molly arrived with a bottle of a pink colored vodka she, Alexa, and Lilly had loved back in college, and the ‘viewing party’ kicked off. Meaning, they found somewhere to watch the show live, and sat with their drinks on Alexa’s couch and waited for Harry.

“Do you think it’ll be different than the American shows?” Lilly asked and sat down between the two other girls with a bowl of popcorn.

“No, it shouldn’t be,” Molly answered, knowing Harry didn’t plan on changing up his set-list or adding anything else. “I mean, probably,” she added and shrugged, as if she weren’t secretly dating him.

“I wonder what he’ll wear?” Alexa asked, and Molly nodded at her valid question. His wardrobe might be one thing he would change for the European shows, just based on local preferences

“Well, he’s Harry Styles, so he’ll wear some black skinny jeans, Chelsea boots, and some shirt I wish I was cool enough to own.” Lilly answered, and the girls laughed. Molly started to feel more at ease as she settled in with her two closest friends.

As they laughed at Lilly’s comment, the auditorium got dark, and Molly knew what was coming next. She held her breath in anticipation, as she knew Harry was standing on that stage, just waiting for the light to come up. She had seen him just over three days ago, but it somehow felt like three weeks.

The lights came up, and the audience, along with Alexa and Lilly, squealed with delight. Harry grinned and seemed to shine on stage, despite the poor video quality, and they jumped right into the first song without an introduction.

“I love his shirt! It looks so soft,” Lilly commented. “Is that the Eiffel Tower?” Lilly squinted at the screen and tried to make out the image on his t-shirt.

“Yeah,” Molly nodded, and quickly blinked away a few tears at her unfulfilled plans to see it with him. This must have been Harry’s way of making it up to her, letting her know she was still on his mind, and in his heart.

“Bonjour Paris!” Harry said to the crowd at the end of the first song. “I’m so happy to start the European leg of my tour here in the city of lights! Je t’aime, tout le monde!”

As if he knew which fan’s phone Molly was watching the live stream through, Harry looked right at it as he spoke these words, and Molly felt he was somehow saying them directly to her. She felt her chest get tight with emotions, and tried to relax before she ended up crying for seemingly no reason.

“I’m going to mix things up tonight, and this next song is for someone very special to me.” Harry ran his hand through his hair -which was starting to get longish again- and took a deep breath before starting the song. “If I could fly, I’d be coming right back home to you…”

At this, Molly couldn’t contain her emotions, and tears began spilling down her cheeks. Luckily, Alexa and Lilly seemed to be having the same reaction to this song -though for completely different reasons. As the song concluded Alexa passed a tissue box around and they sniffled and blinked away tears.

“Ugh it’s not fair; why does he get to be that cute and talented?” Alexa sighed. “God, I love you Harry.”

“Same,” Lilly sighed and dabbed her eyes again.

“Me too,” Molly added, and a chill ran down her spine as she realized the words she was saying. ‘Really, Harry, I love you’.

Notes

(I'm back -for now. I have a couple of older chapters written and edited, so I'm posting them here now 'as is'.)

It’s almost like I planned for ‘If I could Fly’ to be their song… ; ) It ended up working better than I expected!

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