Gold Rush

Jack & Jen

Jen - I bumped into your mum yesterday, she looks well, I do miss your family (and you) ☹️ x

Jack sighed and swiped away the message.
This was the third this week.

He'd thought about replying to his ex, he did worry about her in the caring way that a friend would, but he was heavily conscious about leading her on. Jen was the type to make something out of nothing, give her an inch and she will almost certainly take a mile.

Jack and Jen first met in school and quickly became textbook childhood sweethearts. They'd grown up together, lost their virginity to each other, the athletic and good looking boy traditionally placed with the beautiful aspiring model. If they were residing in America, they most definitely would have been crowned the prom King and Queen.

With both of their lives heavily intertwined, family bonds became well and truly established, and soon enough their parents became as thick as thieves, meaning the two families regularly went on holiday and spent time together. They would all often speak about the couple having the huge fairytale wedding, the big house together, maybe a dog or two and eventually children, to properly cement the joining of both families.

He'd been absolutely besotted with her, verging on obsessive. Y'know, that kind of 'first love' that grips your soul and shakes you to the very core.

Things began to subtly change when Jen turned 18 and regularly found herself on nights outs in the local bars and clubs. Her group of friends would often be approached by equally as keen packs of boys, packed with teenage lust and hormones.

Jen would spot one, sometimes two of them flashing their flirtatious eyes over a cheap alcopop and she just couldn't help but bask in the buzz that she got from the attention.

Meanwhile, Jack and his dad, Kevin, were working hard on trying to get him settled into his football career. He'd joined Aston Villa Football Club aged six and he'd worked his way up through the club. Following a stint on loan at Notts County, he'd finally established himself within the Villa first team. With his hard work paying off, everything was coming together just how he'd always planned, his dreams becoming a reality.

Jack excitedly had the hopes of moving in properly with Jen, into a place of their own, especially now he was receiving a regular, decent and reliable income. He'd even thought about proposing and wondered what kind of ring she'd like, where he'd do it, would he ask her fathers permission?.
It makes him cringe now when he thinks back, so naive, so young and so torturously in love.

Until one night it all changed.
Well, a few nights actually.

Jen was good looking and she enjoyed the attention she'd get from boys, especially after a few vodka & cokes. They'd only slept with each other and curiosity finally got the better of her, multiple times. Solihull was a small place really, so it didn't long for whispers to form and for Jack to get word of his girlfriends escapades.
He was broken. His kindness taken for weakness.

He let himself go wild and was out every weekend with his friends, drinking to simply relax and forget. The bond and mutual respect they'd spent so many years building, was completely destroyed within seconds. The only thing that seemed to help Jack process what had happened, was to confidently chat up and shag any girl he 'vibed' with.
This had got him in a little bit of bother with Villa's management, he'd promised to sort himself out. To pull himself back.

Their parents begged for him and Jen to stay together, to work through it.. and they did for a short while, they tried, really tried.. but their hearts were no longer in it.
The couple remained on and off for a few years after, but with their foundations and trust already diminished, it was pointless. They would both sleep around and end up coming back together for a comfort shag or sometimes just to be in each-others company.

Comfortably toxic was the best way to describe it, until Jack officially called time on their 'relationship' just before he went off to play in the Euros with the England squad.

Jen couldn't seem to let go. She still spoke to and saw Karen, Jack's mum, regularly as-well as his siblings Hollie, Kiera and Kevan.
This really pissed him off.
And here she was again, trying to regain her spot in his life, using his family as ammo.

He quickly locked his phone and left it on charge in his hotel room, before meeting the lads downstairs for breakfast in anticipation of a full day of training.

*
Jack spotted Tyrone Mings almost straight away, scooping granola into a bowl and adding it to his already full tray.

'Dunno where ya put it, Ty', Jack grabbed a tray and moved alongside Mings, eyeing up what delights the breakfast bar had to offer.

'Same place as you!!' He deeply laughed and toe tapped Jack's leg as he turned to find a seat.

He grabbed three slices of 50:50 toast and put them on his plate, he 'ent eating any brown bread if he could help it.

'Hey, you'
A southern, sickly sweet voice.

Two words was all it took and just like that his heart dropped right down to his dick and shot back up again. Call it muscle memory.

He double took at the person on his right as he scooped a mountain of scrambled eggs next to his toast.

'Oh... Millie... didn't know you'd be here?'

Millie rolled her eyes, 'Jack, you could at least pretend that it's nice to see me'

'Yeh.. nah' - she cut Jack off mid mumbling his way through the start of a sentence,
'a few of us got brought in to help for international duty. Louis is here from your old place and a few from your new gaff'.

'Yeh.. Sophie, Jamie and Kate are from Citeh'

Jack hadn't seen Millie since the summer, at that god awful messy gathering at his mate Ben Chilwell's house. Chilly obviously knew her from him playing at Chelsea, where she worked as a physiotherapist.

They ended up shagging a few times over the duration of that weekend, but it was short lived. She was still banging fit though, and his hand tensed as he remembered wrapping his fist with her long ginger hair.
He couldn't push the thoughts down.
'It's strawberry blonde!!!'
'Nah, Mils, it's ginjah and it's lush'
He remembered their exchanged words, she could argue about her hair colour until she was blue in the face.

'Anyways', Millie interrupted his thoughts
'I ain't expecting anything Jack, don't worry'.

'Good t'know', He smiled and watched as she lent across him, grabbed a banana and sat herself down next to Mason Mount.

Fucksake.

Anymore ex's wanting to show up and spice things up??