The Reinvention of Harry Styles

Harry read over Molly’s text when he awoke, and smiled.

*I just thought you’d like some cheering up

He replied, and rolled out of bed. Harry was glad he could bring a smile to his girlfriend’s face, even while halfway around the world. He knew she must be feeling as down as he was about their separation, and just wanted her to be happy. Yet, she didn’t mention anything about ‘Holly’ or ask how he knew her favorite flowers….maybe he’d gotten it wrong? Maybe that wasn’t her fanfiction after all?

“Harry!” Someone knocked at his hotel room door, and he jumped out of bed quickly.

“Coming!” He grabbed some clothes and opened the door.

“We want to go over the final cut of the video before it airs tomorrow, okay?” Several people barraged into his hotel room, and Harry tried to fully wake up.

“Okay, that’s great. I’d love to see the final cut.” He put on a smile and sat down with his team to review the footage.

Well into reviewing footage, Harry finally checked his phone and saw all the texts from Molly:

*What are the flowers really for?

*Who’s the pregnant girl?

*Who’s baby is in the carriage?

*Is this an illegitimate child???

‘Oh shit…’ Harry thought and stepped out to respond to her. His heart raced, and his head couldn’t wrap around what she was saying.

*No, no, it’s a surprise ; )

This text received no immediate response, but Harry hoped it was the time change, and maybe she was asleep. He took a deep breath, and tried to think straight.

*Harry, what is going on

He read Molly’s text, and realized perhaps his secretiveness was a bit misleading on her side. Harry tried to back-track, but he was at a loss for words, and somehow all he could think of was:

*Sorry, it’ll make sense soon

Harry shook his head, and knew that wasn’t a good explanation. He tried to think of something better to say, but Mitch came to find him.

“Hey man, want to run through that new 1D cover you wanted to try out? And when did you want to play it?” Mitch asked.

“I’m not sure...maybe we won’t need it after all,” Harry shook his head. Before he could say anything else, Karen appeared and said Harry was needed again.

“Maybe another time,” he said to Mitch before reluctantly following Karen back into his hotel room. As much as he loved his job, sometimes (like right now) he hated all the complications that came long with it.


***


“Gemma!” Molly screamed once Harry’s sister answered the phone. “Gemma please tell me you know what’s going on?”

“Umm,” Gemma blinked and tried to focus. “In general, or more specifically? God it’s early, this better be important.”

“Hey, I waited several hours to call you so I wouldn’t wake up up too early. And yes, it is important,” Molly’s voice broke as she quietly explained. “I think Harry might be cheating on me!”

“Woah there, what is that?” Gemma laughed. “Harry would never, he’s madly...mad...He really likes you.”

Molly was not convinced. “He sent me flowers -my favorite flower, I don’t know how he figured that one out- but he spelled my name wrong! That might have just been a typo, but why would he send me flowers out of the blue like that?”

“He cares about you, that’s all. Molls,” Gemma sighed and tried to think of the best way to fix this as she read through her emails, hoping to find something from Harry. “Just appreciate the flowers, okay?”

“Okay, maybe I’m just being paranoid, …” Molly trailed off as she stared at the pink tulips and again imagned all the reasons why he could have sent them.

“Molly -honey- just, relax. You’re over-thinking things, I’m sure.” Gemma sighed as her eyes landed on a particular email, and bit her tongue from saying too much. “Just hang in there, okay?”

“I don’t know, I guess I have to,” Molly also sighed, but didn’t really feel any better about the situation.

“Just don’t do anything until...until you have all the facts, or something,” Gemma added, and Molly finally agreed. Gemma looked down at her computer screen as she hung up. Their advice column had gotten an ‘anonymous’ submission that morning, which read:

‘Dear Gemma and Molly,
I need your help. I’ve messed up, and I don’t quite know how to fix it. I’ve tried sending my girlfriend her favourite flowers, I sang her favourite song for her, and I don’t know what else I can do to show her how I feel. I’m not good with words, and being away from her is tearing me apart.’

It was clearly from Harry, so Gemma texted him to see what was up.

H:I have a surprise for her*

G:What is it? I think she’s getting suspicious*

H:I can’t tell?*

G:Okay….*

H:I’m shooting a video, and I want it to be a surprise when she sees it*

G:Harry, be careful. She’s freaking out, I think you need to tell her something*

H:It’ll be done soon, okay?*

Gemma sighed and responded to her younger brother:

G:Just don’t mess this up, okay?*

Gemma read through this conversation and texted Molly back:

*Don’t worry, it’ll be alright : D

Molly didn’t feel like everything would be alright, but she took a deep breath and tried to calm down. She had to take Gemma’s word for it, though at the moment she felt like she was losing her mind.

Molly sighed, and eventually drifted to sleep. She didn’t sleep well and when she woke up late the next morning, she somehow felt worse. She dragged herself to the kitchen to grab some breakfast, and sat at the table.

“Good morning sleeping beauty,” her mom teased, and joined her. “It’s nearly noon-time, hon.”

“I know,” Molly grumbled, and continued eating. Her phone buzzed and she glanced at the notification: new video posted to Harry Styles’ VEVO

Molly quickly clicked on it, curious to see what Harry had posted. Maybe this was what he had been talking about?

“Oh my god,” Molly gasped when she saw the title of the video.

“What is it?” Deb looked up.

“He made a music video for ‘Kiwi’.” Molly laughed and shook her head. “How did I not see this coming? He said he was going to have to do more promo for Kiwi if it was going to be his next single, so this makes perfect sense!”

“A video for ‘Kiwi’? Let’s see it!?” Deb scooted her chair closer and Molly propped her phone up on the table so they could both see it.

The video opened with a woman picking cigarettes out of a box one by one and throwing them out (or, working her way through a cheap pack of cigarettes). She then grabbed a bottle of liquor out of a man’s hand and smashed it on the ground, and she appeared to be yelling at him, or scolding him. The camera panned out, and Molly finally saw Harry in the background. He was reading a book, trying to mind his business, but kept glancing back over at the fighting couple.

“And I think she said,” Harry mouthed the lyrics along with the song, as if recounting a story, and the shot cut back to the girl.

“I’m having your baby!” She screamed at the guy, then looked at Harry as he watched the fight, “It’s none of your business!!”

The song continued on like this, with Harry as the reluctant witness to various couples and their journeys to parenthood. He ran into a very pregnant woman informing her baby daddy of his paternity at the library; he overheard a woman showing off her new born baby to her ex-boyfriend (the father) at the bus stop. Lastly, he ran into none other than Daisy Rutherford, and the young hockey player she had slept with months ago.

In this situation, Connor was explaining to Harry how Daisy had told him she was pregnant.

“And I think she said, I’m having your baby,” Connor recounted, and Daisy blushed.

“It’s none of your business,” she politely said to Harry.

The music video concluded with Harry walking down the road, seeing a somewhat pregnant woman and a guy, and turning to run the other way before he had to witness it yet again.

“Wow, that was very impressive.” Her mom gushed as the video ended. “Did you help him with that?”

Molly was dumbstruck and merely shook her head. “I- I had no idea.”

“Well, Harry’s a smart boy if he came up with that,” Deb smiled. “Wasn’t that girl...I can’t remember her name, but the mini-Taylor Swift-”

“Daisy?” Molly interrupted, and her mom nodded. “Yeah, and that’s the guy she’s having a baby with? I hope this will quelle some of the rumors that Harry knocked her up.”

Deborah continued talking, but Molly suddenly realized something. ‘The girls he has been seen with were just part of the video…’

“Honey?” Her mom asked when she realized Molly wasn’t listening.

“Mom,” Molly started, as things slowly came into focus, and the one thing that really mattered became clear. “Mom, I love him.”

“Awww, Molly,” Deb leaned over and hugged her. “I’m happy for you.”

“You don’t think it’s too soon?” Molly asked. “I know we’ve been dating a few months, but it’s Harry Styles and I don’t want to mess this up.”

Deb smiled and rested her hand on her daughter’s arm. “Dear, it’s never too soon to say it if you mean it.”

Molly soaked in these words, and something flickered on in her head like a neon light.

“I have to tell him I love him.” She stood up and nearly knocked her chair over. “I have to tell him right now. But, in person.”

“Oh,” Deb cocked her head. “Isn’t he in Australia?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Molly left to pack her suitcase



***


Harry had not heard from Molly since her last text over twelve hours ago. He realized he must have said something wrong, and had been wrong about ‘everything making sense’ once the Kiwi video came out.

Maybe she hated it? Maybe she hadn’t even seen it?

Harry tried to brush this aside and get ready for his show. He paced back stage while his opening act played, and tried to tell himself everything was okay, even though it clearly was not.

“Five minutes, Harry,” the stage manager informed him, and he nodded. Harry eventually made his way stage-side and shook his head a couple times to get himself in the right mindset.

‘Just focus on the show, Harry, focus on the sh-’ his thought process was interrupted as he ran into someone. “M-Molly?”

“Hi,” she sounded out of breath, but her eyes were bright and full of some emotion Harry couldn’t quite pinpoint.

“What are you doing here?" Harry was surprised, but happy to see her. His head spun, and couldn’t quite piece together what was going on. Was he imagining this??

“I’ve always wanted to visit Australia,” she shrugged and nervously giggled.

“No, like, what are you doing here? Backstage, at my concert?” Harry tilted his head in confusion, but smiled, because he was happy to see her regardless of the circumstances.

"Because," Molly paused and moved over as someone walked by them getting things ready to set the stage. "The thing is, because, well, Harry, I love you."

Molly and Harry froze as they heard the audience hush for a moment before erupting an a chorus of "aww's" and cheers.

"Oh my god," Molly grasped and took a step back.

"Is that-" Harry froze as his eyes settled on to the microphone stand a stage hand had set down next to them. "Is that on?" Harry asked, and his voice echoing throughout the auditorium answered his question. The crowd again screamed when they heard this, and Molly turned a thousand shades of red in embarrassment. She froze and looked Harry in the eye, trying to remember how to breath.

Time seemed to stop and an eternity passed as they both stared at each other in horror. Molly could not believe she had just accidentally revealed something so personal and private in such a public way - in front of an auditorium full of some of Harry's most avid fans. To Molly's surprise, Harry's shocked expression started to melt into a smile. His eyes softened first, and then the corners of his mouth twitched into a crooked grin.

"Really?" He nearly whispered, and moved closer to Molly - putting himself closer to that microphone. She tried to move him away from it, worried that maybe he didn't realize it was on, but he resisted and shook his head slightly.

Molly cocked her head and looked up at him questioningly. Harry just smiled back at her, confusing Molly even more. "Because," he continued, and they heard him blast over the speakers in the auditorium.

“Harry, you’re on,” the stage manager turned him toward the stage and Harry was suddenly on stage, under the spotlights, and in front of the hundreds of fans who had just heard his girlfriend admit she loved him.

‘Wait…’ Harry paused. ‘She loves me. She loves me!!!”

His face froze in an awkward smirk, and Harry turned to Mitch. “That song we practiced earlier? We need to play it now.” Mitch nodded and had a word with the rest of the band, while Harry turned to face the audience.

The crowd was chattering and abuzz with a level of energy Harry was neither used to nor prepared for. It was personal this time, but he somehow had to play it cool. He gave Mitch a nod, and he started playing. The audience listened closely as they tried to figure out what song it was, but he and Harry had re-worked the song in a way that made it nearly unrecognizable as a former One Direction song.

“People say we shouldn’t be together, we’re too young to know about forever,” Harry sang, and still, the audience didn’t recognize the song since they had re-written the song and a folk-rock sounding singer/songwriter song.

“But I say, they don’t know what they’re talk, talk, talking about….

“They don’t know about the things we do, they don’t know about the I love you’s…” As Harry and his band reached the chorus of the song, the audience recognized it as “They Don’t Know About Us” and burst into cheers. Some attempted to sing along, but the song was too different from the original to really follow along with.

Slowly, fans throughout the crowd put Molly’s accidental public confession of love for Harry with the sudden appearance of this song, and realized this wasn’t just a random introduction of a new 1D cover on Harry’s part. Yet instead of the usual screaming and squealing Harry was used to, there was an almost hushed sense of approval, of excitement that he’d found someone he cared about.

Yet, both Harry and Molly were oblivious to this as they tried to get through the song and remain conscious, respectively. It took nearly the entire song for Molly’s breathing to return to somewhat normal, and for the ringing in her hears to stop, before she could recognize the song.

‘Wait, is he saying…?’ Molly looked out at Harry on stage, pleading with her eyes for an answer, but Harry carried on to the next song as normal. ‘Does he love me too?’

Notes

I’m so excited to finally post this! I’ve had the ending written for a while, and I’ve been working toward it over the past few chapters.

Also, the Kiwi music video is something I’ve been planning for a while. I hope my description makes sense, but I’d love to see this version!