Dear Daisy| WW2!Harry Styles

Chapter 1

The first time Daisy met Harry, she was seven. Her father had just started working for Styles' Steel Co. and his boss had invited him over for a dinner. Even at seven she was terrified of Thomas Styles. He was dark and brooding, and had a booming voice that seemed to shake the ground. She doesn't remember much of the dinner, only that Harry's mother, Anne was really kind and his sister Gemma fun to be around. She made Daisy laugh a lot that night, so much so that the adults ended up kicking all the kids out to the back yard to play.
She remembers Thomas had a pool, and it was funny to her because the beach was only a short ways away. Her brother Sterling got on with Harry right away, and they ran around in the grass with a ball while Gemma and Daisy sunk their feet in the pool. Again, Daisy doesn't remember much about what her and Gemma talked about, but she remembers smiling until her cheeks hurt and she was breathless. What she remembers most though, is hearing Harry and Sterling shout behind them, and seeing Gemma turn to look over her shoulder just as someone collided with her back.
She tumbled forward into the deep end of the pool, water rushing up her nose before she could hold her breath and it made her lungs sting. She felt like she was kicking and flailing under the water for hours, heart pounding in her ears before two arms were around her waist. When she reached the surface, Gemma was holding her, treading water and grimacing when Daisy coughed up water and broke into tears.
Gemma got her back to the edge of the pool, helping her up before climbing out herself. The backdoor to the house was open, and Anne and her mother Meredith came rushing out.
"What happened?" Meredith asked, wiping wet hair out of her face. Daisy had buried her face in her mother's side, holding her tight as she sobbed.
"Harry pushed Daisy in the pool." Sterling said over her cries, and while Daisy doesn't remember if Harry ever got in trouble for it or tried to defend himself, she does remember deciding that she officially hates Harry Styles.
~

Daisy tied the fabric in her hair into a bow, wishing she had red lipstick to paint on her pale lips. Tonight she's attending a dinner with her father's business associates, and he told her to doll up because he really needs to impress them tonight. She put on her prettiest red dress, long socks and heels, and curled her hair with rollers borrowed from her mother. Typically she'd apply the lipstick that matches the dress to her lips, but she ran out of it weeks ago after she'd gone on a date with the neighbor boy. She wishes she hadn't worn any that night, because it turned out he wasn't worth her or her best lipstick. And now that she needed it most, she didn't have it. The bow will just have to do, she thinks glummy, looking over herself in the mirror.

Her father hardly made her go to these dinners ever since the first one she'd been to. After almost drowning in Thomas' pool, Daisy refused to return to his house, and for some unknown reason, so did Sterling. He refused to see Harry Styles, he said heatedly. Daisy thought it sweet of him to be upset about what Harry did to her, and in return for their stubbornness, Daisy and Sterling got to stay with the neighbors on dinner nights. When Kitty was born, it was easier to leave her at home as well, with the older two siblings to babysit. Which was why it was such a big deal that William requested the whole family go out tonight. She knew it had to be important, so she didn't argue even though she was completely nervous about having to see Harry again.

Typically she only sees him around town, sometimes he'll make small talk with Sterling, but they both give each other these disgusted looks when walking away and pretend they didn't see the other do the same. It's quite amusing, even if Harry usually takes the time to critique something about her before going on his way. Usually it's small little comments about her clothes or lipstick, claiming her skirt is too short and her lips to bright. "You'll give some bastard the wrong idea," he'd say, carelessly looking over her outfit, "and you'll never impress anyone respectable."

Daisy fought against the urge to respond. She always desperately wanted to ask him if even knew what a respectable man looked like, and give him that same cold look he always gives her, but she doesn't. Because she was taught better than that. She doesn't like to be rude, even if Harry did almost kill her and is the reason she can't step foot near a pool or the ocean anymore. He doesn't deserve your words, she'd always remind herself.