Friday 16th July
Today was the day that everything was due to happen;
Jack was going to Mykonos with the boys,
Laura was going home to Glasgow,
Jack's family were leaving for Solihull and
Amy was going to Majorca.
The variable was still Amy's decision on the contract and whether she was going to stay in London. She'd talked about it with Jack so much the night before, and she knew he was against the idea, everyone close to her seemed against it, so why did she still feel tempted to do it?
Amy had spent the night with Jack again, and Laura had stayed with Chilly again. It was good to have her favourite people in one place at the same time, and had led the whole house into playing drinking games. It had been carnage. The boys still couldn't believe how much Scottish girls could drink, but now Amy was regretting it, she had a fuzzy head and so much to do before her flight at 3pm.
Amy walked into the living room in Jack's shorts and t shirt, to find the rest of the boys lying in the sofa with their eyes covered with sunglasses.
'Morning' called Amy, as she headed towards the kitchen in search of coffee. 'Anyone want coffee?' She asked.
'I think we all do, you and Jack kept us up half the night. I mean, is he still alive in there?' Laughed Mason.
'Oh my God' said Amy blushing deeply. 'I didn't realise, I'm so sorry'
'I'm still alive boys, don't worry' Jack said, walking through to join them. 'We were just making the most of our last night together'
'Well I think my ears might be pregnant now, so thanks for that' laughed Dec.
'Once you've got that coffe come back to bed' smirked Jack.
'God do they ever stop' groaned Dec, but Jack didn't want her on her own for that, he had something he wanted to give her.
'I bought you a present' said Jack handing her a little red Cartier bag.
'Wow, when did you get this?' She asked, pulling the box out. Thankfully it wasn't ring shaped.
'I have my ways. It's a love bracelet. I screw it on you as a symbol of how much I love you, and it means you'll have a bit of my heart with you the whole time we're apart' he explained, showing her the tiny screwdriver.
'It's beautiful Jack, but you really didn't have to buy me anything though'
'I'll give you the world if you let me' he took her hand and squeezed it.
'When did you get this romantic' she said wiping a tear from her eye.
'I mean it, as soon as you finish uni, I want us to live together again and just enjoy ourselves. I'm getting paid stupid money to do what I love best and it's only going to go up, especially if I do go to City. If this staying and working in London thing is about money, then you don't need to worry, it's not going to be an issue'
'I'm not going to be a kept woman Jack, you know how independent I like to be' she pulled her hand away, slightly narked.
'You call it independent. I call bloody stubborn' he said grabbing her hand again.
'And that's why you love me' she said before pulling him in for a kiss to shut him up.
*****
Before her meeting with the management company, Amy had went with Laura to Kings Cross to see her off. It was so hard for her to say goodbye to her best friend, not knowing how long it would be until she saw her again. It may only have been a 5 hour journey to Glasgow, but it felt like a lifetime away. After they'd cried and hugged and said their goodbyes, it sank in for Amy what staying would actually mean. Laura had gone and Jack was going too. Starting out by herself in a big city was going to be hard, was she strong enough to do it? She had no choice but to make that decision, she'd just arrived outside the offices. Amy swallowed hard and opened the doors. This wasn't just a difficult decision, it was life changing.
'Hi Amy' said Esmé, grinning widely. 'So have you made a decision yet?'
'I've decided to take the flat on the 6 month lease that Peter and I discussed, because I do want to work more than we agreed previously, but at the moment I'm not sure about the contract for 2 years. I'd rather stick to the terms of the one I've got'
'If you're sure? Why don't we review it in 6 months then?' Esmé looked disappointed. 'I personally think you'd be crazy not to take the chance, but I can understand your hesitation'
'Yes, that sounds good' smiled Amy.
'And I'm delighted to see you and Jack together, you make such a cute couple. Now go and enjoy Majorca, and we'll start getting these jobs booked for you. I mean it Amy, you're going places' Esmé said with a smile.
Amy left, now she just had to tell everyone else what she decided. Easy. Not.
As predicted, Lorna cried. Laura sighed and Jack told her he'd support her no matter what, but he thought she should go back to Uni. Too late, she'd already decided.
*****
'I'm going to come with you to the airport' Jack announced, as Amy pulled her case towards her hotel room door.
'Are you insane, you literally are flying out yourself 2 hours later?'
'I just want to wave you off, is that really so bad?' he looked so cute fluttering his eyelashes, how could she say no. That was the problem with Jack, he knew how to make Amy putty in his hands.
At the airport there were so many photographers waiting for the Love Island cast to arrive, but they couldn't believe their luck when Jack showed up too, pushing the trolley with Amy's bags on. Jack was so chilled about it all and carried on regardless, but to Amy it was still so new that people wanted to see her doing such random stuff that it made her feel awkward.
'See, this is another reason to come to Mykonos, we're flying private and you're going Jet2, it just doesn't feel right' he sulked. She rolled her eyes playfully at him, and he knew he was fighting a losing battle. He lifted Amy's cases on to the belt and the woman checking her in nearly passed out.
'Oh my goodness, it's you isn't it? You're Jack Grealish!' She said, pointing out the obvious. Jack was adorable letting her take a selfie and writing an autograph for her 8 year old nephew.
'And can I have a picture with you too Amy?' She asked. It felt so strange, Jack was supposed to be the famous one, not her.
'Sure' Amy shrugged happily as Jack took the phone and snapped away.
'That's you all checked in now, and thank you so much again for the pictures and autographs' she smiled.
'I'd better go through now' Amy said wrapping her arms around Jack's neck. All the photographers started snapping away, but neither of them really noticed, they were too caught up in their moment.
'I love you Jack'
'I love you too Amy' he said before their lips met. The cameras went into double overtime.
'Just behave yourself in Mykonos' she warned.
'I'll be on my best behaviour, and anyway, your week sounds more wild than mine, so you behave'
'I always do' she said, tapping her finger on his nose.
He watched and waved until she was out of sight, and as he turned to leave he almost walked right into Brad. Jack put his head down, he didn't want a scene, it wouldn't look good on his part at all.
'Not saying hello today?' taunted Brad. Jack shot him a look that said 'don't even'.
'Don't worry mate, I'll make sure Amy's well taken care of this week' said Brad, he was lucky that he was safely behind the security barrier of Jack would have hit him again. There was just something about Brad that wound Jack up. He didn't for one minute think he was going to leave Amy alone, he was just glad he had so much trust in her.
Brad caught up with Amy in the duty free shop.
'Do you think we could have a chat?' He asked, smiling apologetically.
'Sure, fancy a coffee?' Amy asked. She only wanted good vibes this week, and smoothing things over with Brad was going to be a good start.
'Nah, let's do Weatherspoons, no one drinks coffee on their way to Magalluf, do they?' Brad was smiling so that was a good sign.
He ordered their drinks and Aimee was presented with a vodka and orange, with a jägerbomb. 'Cheers' they said before downing their shots.
'I'm really sorry for how I behaved the other night. I was just really disappointed that you'd chosen Jack'
'And Jack shouldn't have hit you either. It's just a bit of a messed up situation, but I hope we can try and put it behind us and have an epic week. What do you say?' She asked.
'I'd say that sounds amazing' he gave her a huge hug. It was unexpected, but it felt okay. It was a relief that they'd sorted things out.
'Right pre-holiday selfie time' he announced, quickly turning his camera around and pointing it at the two of them. Amy smiled instinctively, but she did wonder if this picture was as innocent as it seemed, but part of her Love Island deal with ITV was to post loads of social media content during the week in the run up to the final. Brad shared the picture with her, but posted it himself too with the caption
'Look, we can also hang out with our clothes on too #LoveIsland'
'Erm Brad, that's a bit much, no?' She said.
'The last pictures people saw of us together we were in our undies so I thought it would be funny. Too late now, it's already got 50 likes'
'I just don't want anyone getting the wrong idea about us, we are just friends' she made sure he knew.
'When you say anyone, is it Jack you mean? Why would he be jealous?' Brad asked, knowing fine well what the answer was.
'Just please be a bit more respectful of the fact that I am in a relationship, that's all im asking' she was setting clear boundaries.
'No worries' Said Brad, but he had zero intention of sticking to that. He could already imagine how pissed off Jack would be when he saw it and quite frankly, that's what he was aiming for.
*****
'Look at that' said Jack angrily, almost pushing his phone into Chilly's nose.
'He's doing it on purpose, just ignore it' Chilly
'I know but he pisses me off so much. Look at him, his hand on her shoulder. I don't trust him'
'Yeah but look at her, she looks so uncomfortable, and she's the only one you need to worry about trusting'
'Mate, they've just shut the door to the plane, holidays have officially started, it's time to live the Hakuna Matata dream!' Said Mason, sat with his sunglasses on, inside the plane.
'I'll drink to that- Hakuna Matata' shouted Dec.
'Hakuna Matata' everyone chorused.
'It'll be fine Jack' Chilly whispered.
By the time the flight to Mykonos landed the boys were all well on their way to drunk, and Jack had actually relaxed.
'We'll gonna go and get changed and then we'll have 2 hours left in the pub' Chilly said to Jack.
'I'll just FaceTime Amy on the way then, make sure she's alright' Jack said, he wouldn't be happy until he'd spoken to her.
Her phone rang and rang- no answer. He began to worry. He tried again and she picked up eventually. As her face filled the screen he felt relieved. She was in her bed alone, and he'd woken her up.
'Hey, it's just to let you know I've just landed, and to tell you I love you' Jack said smiling broadly.
'And I love you too. I've just had an early night, everyone else is out but I thought I'd get some beauty sleep instead' she laughed but it turned into a yawn.
'Get some sleep then, I'll talk to you tomorrow'
'Night Jack, love you'
'Love you too' he replied, hanging up satisfied he had nothing to worry about.
'Now do you think we can get on to more important matters?' Asked Mason, handing out beers before they jumped into the taxi.
*****
By the next morning their photos from the airport were all over the press. It would never feel normal to have her face staring back at her from a newspaper.
Jack Grealish and Amy Shaw -
In Love but not on the same Island
Reunited love birds Jack and Amy were spotted in Heathrow today saying goodbye before heading off on their separate ways, to two well known party islands. Whilst Jack and several other members of the England team headed to Mykonos for some well deserved relaxation after their Euro 2020 win, Amy has headed back to Majorca for the final of Love Island with her ex love interest Brad McClelland.
*****
'My head is bursting' groaned Jack to whoever was listening. Not only that, but he'd somehow managed to fall asleep sitting up in a chair rather than on the bed, and his neck was killing him.
'What a night!' Laughed Mason.
'What a night' repeated Jack. 'Amy's text me'
'I've got a teeeeeeext' shouted Dec in a Love Island kind of way.
Jack laughed at her message. 'She said she's seen the video of us dancing on the bar and was disappointed that there was no one there to stick dollar bills in our thongs' Jack laughed. That was Amy for you, a wicked sense of humour.
'We danced on the bar?' Asked Chilly.
'Yeah, and then you and Mase invited a load of people round for a pool party so we had better get ourselves ready' Jack said.
*****
'Did you sleep well? Can't believe you didn't come out with the rest of us. It was mental. You should have seen what Shaz was doing, she was on the bar and people were doing tequila body shots off her' Brad filled her in as they sat down for breakfast.
'I just felt a bit under the weather, I'm much better now' explained Amy.
'Buck's Fizz!' Shouted Lucinda, bringing over a huge jug of orange juice and a magnum bottle of bubbly.
Everyone's glass was charged and Brad stood up. Amy pulled her phone out her phone and started to live stream.
'I'm crap at doing toasts, but I just wanted to say here's to an amazing week where we're going to end our Love Island adventure, and start the next chapter of our lives. Here's to the future with lots of success, happiness and of course love' he looked right at Amy.
'Woohoo' everyone shouted.
'Welcome to Magalluf guys!' Laughed Aaron.