The Reinvention of Harry Styles

“Harry, the butter needs to be at room temperature first.” Molly put her hand on Harry’s to keep him from adding the butter to the mixing bowl too soon.

“Oh, that’s going to take a while, isn’t it?” He asked and put the butter down.

She shrugged. “When will Jeff be here?” She asked quietly, even though it was just the two of them.

Harry checked his phone. “Half hour, or so.”

“Then that’ll do.” Molly stated and picked up the stick of butter (still in its wrapper), and, to Harry’s surprise, shoved it down the shirt she was borrowing from Harry and into her bra. “Just warming it up.” She said as she positioned the butter.

“Okay.” Harry stared in surprise, a smile starting on his lips. “I’ve never seen that before, but I guess that’ll work.”

“Trust me.” Molly winked and set about getting the rest of the ingredients out. She and Harry measured and mixed the dry ingredients while the butter warmed up. While they waited for Jeff to arrive, they went through their backstory to make sure they had all the details lined up. “But we don’t want it to sound too perfect, then it’ll look fake, and the best way to sell a lie is to lace it with a bit of truth.”

“Good idea,” Harry nodded, and pulled out his phone to look at a text. “He’s here.”

“Oh, umm...” Molly and Harry suddenly felt nervous, and both wondered if this was a good idea, or if they could even pull it off. Jeff and Harry were friends, so he might think it’s odd Harry’s never mentioned Molly before.

“I’ve got an idea,” Harry stuck his hand in the flour container and then placed it on Molly’s butt, leaving a hand print on her tight black skirt.

“Perfect.” Molly smirked. Before either of them had time to think, Harry slid his hand onto Molly’s back as they heard Jeff approaching.

“Ha ha ha, oh Harry you crack me up!” Molly pretended to laugh at something Harry said, and they both turned to look at Jeff. He looked confused, especially when he recognized Molly from the press junket yesterday, and when he realized she was wearing the same skirt and one of Harry’s shirts.

“Jeff, you might remember Molly Winthrope from yesterday,” Harry introduced, and Molly smiled and waved. In doing so, she accidentally moved the stick of butter warming up in her shirt, so the top poked up out of her bra.

“Oh!” She grabbed the butter. “I forgot about that.” She and Harry giggled and she set the butter aside.

“Nice to see you again Molly,” Jeff said, and eyed Harry as if to ask ‘wtf is she doing here?’ Seeing as Molly was not the type of girl Harry usually hooked up with, Jeff could not quite figure out why Molly was in his kitchen baking cupcakes, wearing Harry’s shirt.

Harry leaned down and kissed Molly’s head, keeping her tightly embraced, and Jeff’s eyes got huge. “Oh, you’re together?” He said, more to himself than them.

“Molly and I met in New York, while I was doing SNL.” Harry explained. “And she came out to surprise me yesterday.”

“When I heard the website I occasionally write for was sending someone to interview the cast of ‘Dunkirk’ I knew it just had to be me. I was in LA anyway for something else, so it worked out perfectly!” Molly leaned into Harry’s embrace and smiled broadly.

“We were just baking cupcakes. That’s what the butter was for,” Harry explained.

“If you want, I can finish these up while you two chat,” Molly said to Harry.

“That would be lovely, cupcake.” Harry leaned down to peck her on the forehead before reluctantly pulling out of her grasp. “Jeff and I have a lot to talk about, don’t we?”

“Yes, especially since I didn’t know you had a, uh...” Jeff looked like he didn’t quite want to say the word, as if he wasn’t sure they were ready to put a label on it.

“Girlfriend?” Harry nodded. “We wanted to be sure before we told anyone.”

“Oh, so you’re sure now?” Jeff still seemed reluctant to accept this.

“Absolutely. It’s been three months, I think we would have figured that out by now.” Harry looked back at Molly and smiled, and she smiled back while mixing the cupcakes. He and Jeff left to sit in the other room while Molly continued baking in the kitchen.

“So, three months, huh?” Jeff said quietly, once they were out of earshot. “Is she pregnant?”

“What?” Harry asked, genuinely surprised. He and Molly had not considered that possible reaction. “No, absolutely not.”

Jeff looked at him sternly. “Seriously, Harry, this is something I would need to know. You can tell me, it’s okay.”

Harry shook his head and laughed. The idea was absurd, considering they only met yesterday and had never even slept together. “No. I mean, I hope not,” Harry joked.

Jeff kind of laughed, but he still eyed Harry warily. “Okay,” he finally said. “We have a lot to discuss, so first-”

“Actually, Jeff, I’d like to start. No more PR ‘girlfriends.’ Molly doesn’t like it.” Harry hated throwing her under the bus like that, but she’d suggested it. “And, I don’t think I’d be comfortable with it anymore.”

Jeff made a note, and looked back at Harry. “You’re not thinking of going public with her, are you?”

“No, not for a long time, at least. I’d hate to see her get torn to shreds by the media or fans.” Harry truly did not want to ever face that.

“Okay, that’s good to hear. We had someone lined up for to you to make an appearance with in August, but we’ll cancel that. Too bad, she’s already been paid, and she’s hot, too,” Jeff remarked as he texted someone. “Anything else?”

“Yes. Molly’s going to travel with me.”

“Where?”

“Everywhere.”

“Everywhere?” Jeff repeated. “Harry, are you sure? I don’t want you to rush into things.”

“Jeffrey, I want her around as much as possible.” Harry really meant that, but the next part he romanticized a bit. “I’m tired of sleeping alone, and having her around makes things so much better.”

Jeff sighed as he thought of the work it would take to add one more person to their travel plans from now on. “Okay. Anything else?”

“That’s it, for now.”

“Alright…” Jeff dove into the long list of topics he needed to discuss with Harry.

In the kitchen, Molly watched the timer tick down the minutes until the cupcakes were done. She couldn’t hear what was going on in the other room and it was driving her crazy. Had it worked? Had Harry sold Jeff on their ‘relationship’? Or had they been caught red handed? This was it; if Jeff saw through their charade, Molly would go home and pretend none of this had ever happened, and Harry would have to deal with the consequences, as embarrassing as that would be for him.

The timer on the oven beeped and Molly jumped. She didn’t realize how on edge she was, and her hands shook as she took the cupcake tins out of the oven.

‘Calm down, Molls’ she thought and took a deep breath. ‘This is your chance to check on their conversation, don’t mess it up’. She made her way over to the living room, slowly gaining her confidence back as she heard the pair talking about the boring logistics of touring.

“Harbear,” she smiled, and Harry’s eyes lit up at her voice. “The cupcakes are done, they just need to cool off before we can frost them.”

“That’s wonderful, love,” Harry smiled. “Did we decide on a color? I was thinking pink icing.”

“You know how much I love pink!” Molly giggled. “I’ll get started making the frosting. Jeff, you’ll stay for cupcakes, right?”

“I, uh,” he glanced from Molly to Harry. “I have a lot of work to do now that-”

He stopped short and Harry raised his eyebrows. “What?”

“Just, arranging travel plans, and a visa, if Molly plans on staying with you in London.”

Harry looked a bit irritated, so Molly spoke up. “Of course, I understand. Maybe next time.”

She and Harry exchanged a glance that said ‘we did it!’ before Molly left for the kitchen again. She was just finishing up the frosting when Harry joined her, leaning on the counter next to her. Molly turned to him with a big smile and put a dollop of frosting on his nose.

“Jeff's gone,” he said.

“Oh, I guess I won’t lick that frosting off your nose then.” She smiled apologetically and handed him a towel to clean it off. “Sorry.”

“He bought it.” He smiled and Molly jumped excitedly. “That was nerve wracking.” Harry recounted what he and Jeff had talked about (the parts pertaining to Molly, not the boring business stuff). “It’s funny, he asked if you were pregnant,” Harry concluded with an amused expression.

“What?” Molly didn’t seem to find it so funny and looked down at her stomach. “I’m not that fat!”

“No, that’s not what he meant. You look perfectly proportioned,” Harry remarked, somehow thinking that was a compliment. “I guess he thought I’d hooked up with you in New York, and that you’d come out here to tell me I’m the baby daddy.”

“As in, ‘I’m having your baby, and it’s none of your business’?” She and Harry both laughed

“Let’s frost these cupcakes, I’m dying to try one.” Harry grabbed a knife and began slathering pink icing on a cupcake.

“That’s not how you do it!” Molly giggled, and showed him how to properly frost a cupcake.

“I’m glad we actually get along,” Harry said as the two munched on their newly frosted cupcakes. “This would be much harder if we didn’t like each other.”

“True, though I feel like I have an advantage here. I feel like I’ve known you since I was sixteen.” Molly added.

“And have I lived up to expectations?” Harry (half jokingly) asked.

“Ehh, we’ll see,” Molly teased.

Notes

I’m having so much fun writing this story, I hope you like it as much as I do : )
Thank you for voting, commenting, and reading!
Ps. Harbear rhymes with Carebear : )