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.

can’t blame the guy if he’s thinking

sure, but a

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

"Is age really the thing that’s

before, T.I know not to make

you

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

get

say...I was faced with a similar situation

few times

bitterly

me because he thought he was doing me a favor.But being apart

"And...what happened?"

Penn and started college, and he moved to New York City to start the gallery.And

"I see..."

Band-Aid you put on the relationship, thinking it's gonna save it.In fact,marriage is only gonna highlight the

like a true once engaged

chuckled and fake

glad one of us is finding this situation

what are you gonna tell

him, but I just don’t have the right words for now.But, I'll get there.I just need to take a walk and arrange

he said, "Hey E,

"Hmm?"

love even

"Of course!"

and somewhat defensively

think I'm in a yearlong relationship with a man I don’t even

seen you and lan together, and the way you look at him compared to the way you look at

Tristan argued.

lot of

I stammered a little.

and I love you and Sophie

love

"Exactly..."I admitted in defeat.

with an expression I couldn't decipher and let out a

are you looking at me like

said love,

probably just misheard you,"I

me you're talking to.You don't have to

looked at Tristan’s face and

it out loud, that I was still

what am I gonna do? I’m gonna

in exasperation, "If I say no to Elliott, it might be

lying to myself and to him too, and

not that I don't love

hurt so bad before, I'm scared of ever

he deserves to be loved, but

Elliott to figure things out? To see if you can love him the way you do lan?"he

that sound bad?"I

don't know, E.What if you never get

if you could never love him as

I'm

have a

quiet for a while now, we just continued

a favor?"I said after

"Anything,"he said quickly.

take Elliott homme? He’s alone in a foreign place, he doesn’t

just need to take a walk and reorganize my thoughts, alone, but I'll

reassuringly,

"Thanks, T,"

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

each other, another

and he

next second, Tristan was

for, I was left

walking about

anything, but when I looked up at the street sign,

blocks didn't seem like much when your mind was clouded with

ritual of making a pros and

it down or anything, but it was all in

more pros than cons

genuinely a really good guy and

got a