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.

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

but a marriage? Really?"I

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

his eyes at me, he asked, "Is age really the

know not to make

you

feel like Elliott's proposal is more of a Hail Mary to save the relationship than

you get that idea

faced with

a few times before saying, "With

bitterly

broken up, or actually, he broke up with me because he thought he was doing me a favor.But being apart from

"And...what happened?"

to U Penn and started college, and he moved to New York City to start

"I see..."

on the relationship, thinking it's gonna save it.In

like a true once

chuckled and fake

us is finding this

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

for a beat, but suddenly he said, "Hey E, can I

"Hmm?"

you love even

"Of course!"

quickly and somewhat defensively

a yearlong relationship with a man I don’t even

and lan together, and the way you look at him

Tristan argued.

lot of things,

I stammered a little.

my family and I love

the way you love

"Exactly..."I admitted in defeat.

expression I couldn't decipher and let

are you looking at

said love,

just misheard

on now, it's me you're talking

face and I

was just pathetic and sad to admit it out loud, that I was still hopelessly in love with a guy that left me almost two

gonna do? I’m gonna

to Elliott, it might be the end

if I say yes, I know I'm lying to myself and to him too, and that’s

not that I don't love

scared of ever loving someone the way

he deserves to be loved, but I just need some

more time with Elliott to figure things out? To see

that sound bad?"I

don't know, E.What if you

you could never love him as much

thing I'm afraid

a

while now, we just continued walking aimlessly while our thoughts were flying around our

me a favor?"I said after a while of

"Anything,"he said quickly.

you take Elliott homme? He’s alone in

tonight? I just need to take a

reassuringly, "Sure, of

"Thanks, T,"

took, he turned back to me and said, "Hey, you'll make the

at each other, another telepathic

nodded and he

the next second,

asked for, I was left

about fifteen blocks

up at the street sign, I realized I was in 63rd street

didn't seem like much when

old ritual of making a pros and

anything, but it was all in

honest, there were a lot more pros

a really good guy and he

a