Teacher's Girl (Aflyingwhale)

EMMA’s POV : 

"Elliot...I...l.."

I took a deep breath and steadied myself, finally saying, "I'm sorry, but I can't give you an answer right now.This is a lot and it’s serious and I have to think about it first..."

"Oh,"his mouth formed an ‘O’ and the look of hope and excitement in his eyes faded into disappointment.

"I have no idea you're even considering something like this.You never even told me about it,"

I said to him.

"That's what I'm doing now, I'm telling you.This is what I want,"he paused for a beat before continuing, "Is this not what you want?"

"l...I mean, it’s a big step..."I stammered.

"I’m just turning twenty-two this year...and I may look like it, but I don’t feel like an adult.I still feel like I'm just a child and I don’t even know what my life is gonna be like a month from now.You know what I mean?"

"I understand,"

Elliott put his gaze down and sighed.

He closed the little velvet box and shoved it back into his jacket pocket.

The air suddenly felt cold and I could hear the faint whispers and murmurs of the people watching us.

I didn’t dare to look, I was afraid I'd be faced with judgmental eyes or pity smiles.

"Ehem,"

Tristan coughed awkwardly as he stepped towards us.

I was glad that he decided to come in at this point.

He was saving us from the awkward ‘now what’ conversation.

"You got your hot dogs?"I said to him.

"Yup..."he replied.

"So...uh, is there any other place we should go to before we head back?"I said to both Elliott and Tristan.

I was trying to make the situation as calm and as normal as possible, but Elliott wasn’t buying into it.

"I think I'll just go home,"he said, pausing for a moment before continuing, "You two can keep going, I'll take the train back.I could use the time to think,"

"Are you sure...?"I asked cautiously.

"Yes.I'll see you at home,"

he let out a small smile and leaned towards me for a kiss.

I didn’t move away, and I thought he was going to kiss me on the lips, but he kissed me on the cheek instead.

I didn't say another word.

I just watched quietly as Elliott turned around and walked out of the park.

Meanwhile, Tristan was studying my face intently and he let out a long deep sigh once Elliott was out of sight.

"Whoa, E, what in the world happened just now?"

"I don’t know, T.I don’t know where this is coming from.We never talked about marriage or anything like that.Elliott’s just always so...unpredictable," I started babbling out of control.

"It’s like Paris all over again.We never talked about being together, but suddenly he wants to come follow me to the States.And okay, so he wants to have a relationship with me, I can handle that.But this? A marriage? All of a sudden? Like...how?"

I only stopped talking to catch my breath.

Tristan fished out a bottle of water from his hot dog doggie bag and handed it to me, he knew full well that I was thirsty after all that ranting.

I quickly took it from him and gulped down half the bottle at one go.

All this talk about marriage was suddenly making me dizzy and dehydrated.

"I'm not ready for a marriage, T.I mean, look at me, I can barely walk in high heels!"

I continued the rant as Tristan laughed.

"I just got out a super heavy relationship with lan and all I wanted was something easy and light and fun, not a marriage!"

"To be fair, you and lan broke up, what almost two years ago?"

Tristan raised an eyebrow.

been dating for almost a year.You can’t blame the guy if he’s thinking about

sure, but a marriage? Really?"I

a couple of months!" Tristan wasn't buying

asked, "Is age really the thing that’s standing

through this before, T.I know not to

do you mean?"he

proposal is more of a Hail Mary to save

get that

was faced with a similar

few times

bitterly and

graduating high school.We were broken up, or actually, he broke up with me because he thought he was doing me a favor.But being apart from each other,

"And...what happened?"

said yes.I moved to U Penn and started college, and he moved to New York City to

"I see..."

on the relationship, thinking it's gonna save it.In fact,marriage is only gonna

spoken like a true once

and

finding this situation amusing,"

you

I feel and what I want to tell him, but I just don’t have the right words for

beat, but suddenly he said, "Hey

"Hmm?"

love

"Of course!"

quickly and somewhat defensively

yearlong relationship with a man

two together and I've seen you and lan together, and the way you look at him compared to the way

Tristan argued.

love a lot

I stammered a little.

love you and Sophie too, and

love lan?"Tristan was quick to

"Exactly..."I admitted in defeat.

at me with an expression I couldn't decipher and let out

Why are you looking at me like

I said

just

you're talking to.You

Tristan’s face and I knew he

was still hopelessly in

what am I gonna do?

say no to Elliott, it might

I say yes, I know I'm lying to myself and to

that I don't

I'm scared of

want to love Elliott the way he deserves to be

more time with Elliott to figure things out? To see if you can love him

that sound

know, E.What if you

him as much as you

I'm afraid of..."I

didn’t have a

for a while now, we just continued walking aimlessly while our thoughts

you do me a favor?"I said

"Anything,"he said quickly.

you take Elliott homme? He’s alone in a foreign place, he

him company tonight? I just need to take a walk and reorganize my thoughts, alone, but I'll be

nodded reassuringly, "Sure, of

"Thanks, T,"

the direction that Elliott took, he turned back to me and said, "Hey, you'll make the right decision.I

knowingly at each other, another telepathic moment type

nodded and he nodded

next second, Tristan

as I had asked for, I was left alone with my loud,

about fifteen blocks

looked up at the

seem like much when your

was back to my old ritual of making a pros and

didn’t write it down or anything, but

be honest, there were a lot more pros than cons to

is genuinely a really good

a