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.

almost a year.You can’t blame the guy

a marriage?

be twenty-two in a couple of months!" Tristan wasn't buying into what

his eyes at me, he asked, "Is age really the thing that’s standing between you and saying yes

through this before, T.I know not to make the same mistake

do you mean?"he

a Hail Mary to save the relationship than an actual

you get

faced with a

few times before saying,

bitterly and

were broken up, or actually, he broke up with me because he thought he was doing

"And...what happened?"

college, and he moved to New York City to start the gallery.And I guess you

"I see..."

on the relationship, thinking it's gonna

spoken like a true

and fake

of us is finding this situation amusing," I rolled my eyes at

what are you gonna

what I feel and what I want to tell him, but I just don’t have the right words for now.But, I'll get there.I just need to take

a beat, but suddenly he

"Hmm?"

you love

"Of course!"

said quickly and somewhat

think I'm in a yearlong relationship with a man I

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

Tristan argued.

lot

I stammered a little.

love my family and I love you and Sophie too, and

love lan?"Tristan was quick to

"Exactly..."I admitted in defeat.

with an expression I couldn't decipher and let

are you looking at me like

I said love, not

probably just misheard you,"I

me you're

looked at Tristan’s face and I knew

admit it out loud, that I was still hopelessly in love with a guy that left me almost two

am I gonna do? I’m

no to Elliott, it might be the

to myself and to

that I don't love

hurt so bad before, I'm scared

Elliott the way he deserves to be loved, but I just need some time to get

To see if you can

that sound

E.What if you never get there?"he

you could never love him

I'm

a comeback for

we just continued walking aimlessly while our thoughts were flying around

me a favor?"I said

"Anything,"he said quickly.

homme? He’s alone in a

need to take a walk and reorganize my thoughts,

reassuringly, "Sure, of

"Thanks, T,"

heels, but before he ran towards the direction that Elliott took, he turned back to me and said, "Hey,

smiled knowingly at each other, another telepathic moment type

and he nodded

next second,

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

was walking about fifteen blocks

up at the street sign, I realized

when your mind was clouded

back to my old ritual of making a pros and cons

anything, but it was all in my

were a lot more pros than cons to saying yes

genuinely a really good guy and he

got a