June 2021
Within 2 days, Amy found herself on the plane heading towards the Love Island villa, but arriving in Majorca wasn't exactly how she'd imagined. Her flight was delayed and then the minute she arrived there was someone waiting at arrivals to take her straight to a hotel for a 10 day quarantine due to the pandemic. The hotel room itself was okay, slightly bigger than average and when she threw herself down on it, she discovered that the king sized bed was pretty comfy. She reached for the remote control and switched the TV on. It went straight onto the BBC who were discussing the England team selection.
'So much for avoiding it' she muttered.
She went to turn it off just as Jack's face came up on the screen. She recognised that smile, he was bursting with pride in his official team photo. He looked well though. His hair was longer and he'd clearly had some new highlights done, his skin was tanned and he had definitely become far more muscular. He'd changed a lot over the last few years, he'd certainly never skipped leg day that's for sure. She smiled at the memory of his skin care collection, it was at least double, if not triple the size of hers, and he'd always taken longer than her to do his hair. It had been the best of times when they were together.
Amy realised that this was the first time she'd really allowed herself to look at him again since they'd split. This was surely a good sign, she didn't want to cry or hurt him and surely they was a sign that she was definitely moving on. She had changed too though. She wondered if Jack would see her on the show, would he look at her as she was looking at him, or would he turn away?
Amy's quarantine ended on the same day as the first England game of Euro 2020 against Croatia, and whilst Jack and the rest of the team were pulling on their white shirts, she was nervously slipping into her green jungle print bikini that she'd chosen for her entrance. It felt strange wearing a bikini in front of cameras, just knowing she was so fully on view to the world made her feel naked and it gave her a churning feeling in the pit of her stomach that just wouldn't go. She gave herself one last check in the mirror, her hair was in loose beach waves and she had decided to go natural with her make up, she certainly didn't want to catfish anyone. If she was going to do this, she was doing it her way.
As she was hurried through the lobby of the hotel and towards the car with blacked out windows that was waiting for her, there was a commotion from in front of a huge tv screen. She stole a quick look on her way past, only to see a group of England fans draped in their flags shouting as the England team were showed warming up.
'Good luck Jack' she whispered to herself. 'And good luck to me too' she thought.
The drive to the villa was quick and uneventful, but Amy's heart was almost beating out of her chest and her mind was racing. What if she was the ugliest in the villa? What if they all hated her? What if she hated them? Oh there was so much to worry about. She was told that she was the third girl to enter and they ran through where she would walk and then fitted her microphone. This was it. She took a deep breath and walked in as confidently as she could. She introduced herself and then took her place next to the pool to await the arrival of the other two girls and then of course the 5 boys
*****
Despite winning against Croatia the day before, Jack wasn't happy. At all. He'd been desperate to get off the bench and involved in the game but Southgate wouldn't hear of it. The way Jack saw it was he could either give up now and throw the towel in, or work even harder in training to show that he was a good choice. All he wanted was a start in a game. Was that too much to ask? He shut the shower off, dried himself and put some boxers on. Time to chill now and have an early night, he thought but when he walked out of the bathroom he found his room mate Phil Foden glued to the TV.
What on Earth is this crap you're watching?' scoffed Jack.
'It's the first episode of the new series of Love Island. Honestly it's great, my mums always watching it. They basically get a load of fit girls in bikinis and send a load of guys in to try and pull them. Some of them even end up banging on tv. Can you imagine the red face when you get home to your Mum?' Phil laughed, barely taking his eyes off the screen.
'What like when your mum had a fit when you and Mason pulled those birds in Iceland you dickhead?' Jack reminded him.
'Shut up. Honest it's good' Phil persisted.
'It aounds shit to be fair mate, except for the bikinis of course' Jack replied, barely looking at the screen as he brushed his hair through in front of the mirror. He threw himself down on the bed and checked his phone for the first time since training, there were a couple of texts from his sister Keira. He was unlocking his phone to read them when he heard a familiar voice coming from the tv.
'Hi, I'm Amy. I'm 25 and a student from Glasgow. I've been single for over 2 years and now I'm here to have a good summer and hopefully fall in love'
'Fucking hell' said Jack involuntarily, his jaw dropped wide open.
'Told you they were hot. I mean look at the legs on her' said Phil smirking at Jack.
'It's not that. I mean she is hot, she always has been, but that's my ex-girlfriend' he explained, barely believing the words himself. She'd looked just the same as she ever had, even better if that was possible, and it really unnerved him. It had been 2 years since they split and he'd only ever seen her once since that on day when she had collected her stuff from his place. And now there she was. In a bikini. On TV. Looking for love.
Phil was completely oblivious to Jacks shock and was talking excitedly at a million miles per hour, thrilled by the revelation, but Jack wasn't listening to a single word. Amy was all he could think of. His phone rang and he almost dropped it from the fright it gave him.
'Finally!' Squealed Keira, as he answered. 'You'll never guess who's on Love Island?!? The press leaked photos earlier and its Amy!'
'I know, I'm just looking at her. I can't quite believe it'
'She looks soooo good. Do you think she'll drop your name? Can you imagine? The guys would be falling all over themselves to pull Jack Grealish's ex' Keira giggled.
'I don't think she would but then again, I never in a million years expected her to go on a tv show like that, so I really don't know. Anyway, I need to go, I've got an interview in ten minutes and I need to get changed' he lied to get her off the phone. It was just too painful to talk about it, and that surprised him. He thought he'd put those feelings to rest.
After Jack hung up on his sister, he sat up to watch the rest of the episode with Phil with a newly found interest, at least this way he would know how she was after they split. The number of times he'd almost called her since that day but then hung up before her phone had even rung wasn't even funny. He knew the damage had been done and he was a complete idiot and threw the best thing in his life away.
He watched suspiciously as the first guy swaggered into the villa.
'What happens now?' asked Jack.
'This is when they couple up, the guys all get to choose a girl and they have to share a bed and stuff' explained Phil. Jack grimaced at the thought. 'when each guy comes in, the girls step forward if they're interested in them, and then the guy chooses who he wants to couple with'
The girl to Amy's left literally stepped forward for every guy, but it wasn't until the 4th guy called Brad walked in that Amy's interest was piqued. Jack saw it in her eyes. Although he had almost black hair, he had beautiful blue eyes and a tanned body to die for. Reluctantly she stepped forward and he chose her. Jack eyed him suspiciously. He looked like a fuck boy, nowhere near good enough for his Amy. Not that she was his anymore.
The rest of the episode he felt on edge. Some of the other contestants were already getting a bit touchy feely, but credit to Amy, she was taking it easy. Once the coupling was finished Amy and Brad went to sit beside the pool and get to know each other better.
'So what do you look for in a man?' He asked.
'Well, the big thing for me is honesty and trust. I don't want a boyfriend that's glued to me, and I'd want us to be able to go and do what we wanted to do individually, but without me worrying what you're getting up to behind my back and vice versa'
'Has that happened to you before?' asked Brad.
'Once, and that was more than enough for me. The way I see it is if you want to go around pulling women, then you don't want to be in a relationship, and that's cool but don't pretend to be something you're not' she explained. Jack felt Phil's eyes on him, but he refused to look round.
It churned him to see her kiss Brad on the cheek before they got into bed together though. He remembered how it felt to wrap her up in his arms. He'd never had that with anyone else.
'So who dumped who? Or is that a stupid question after what she just said?' Asked Phil, as the closing credits rolled.
Jack shifted awkwardly, this wasn't how he expected to be feeling the night after the first England win.
'She dumped me, but it was my fault. I freaked out and because I thought we were too young to be settling down. We'd known each other since we were like 14, my career was kicking off big time and there was so many beautiful girls throwing themselves at me, I made a mistake and by the time I realised what I had, it was too late'
'Do you still like her? You do, don't you? Or your face wouldn't look like that right now' asked Phil, loving all the gossip. This was better than his mum's gossip magazines that she left in the bathroom.
'Don't get me wrong, I'll always care for the girl, but me and her is history. I just hope she does well on the show and finds what she's looking for' said Jack, desperately trying to shut the conversation down.
'Well if you're not interested, can I have her number' giggled Phil, finding the whole thing hilarious, until he saw the serious look deepening on Jack's face.
'Let's just not mention this to anyone, okay?' Said Jack. The last thing he wanted was everyone knowing his business, and he just hoped that Amy would respect that too. She'd always known and understood why he wanted to keep their lives together out of the public eye, but then the old Amy would never have put herself out there on tv like that.
'Was she good in bed? She looks like she'd be good in bed' asked Phil, with a cheeky smirk.
'Shut up you walking hormone' Jack growled, and Phil knew it was definitely the end of their conversation.