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.

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

a marriage?

in a couple of months!" Tristan wasn't

age really the thing that’s standing between

T.I know not to make the same mistake again twice,"I

you mean?"he

a Hail Mary to save

you get

faced with a similar

few times before

bitterly

was graduating high school.We were broken up, or actually, he broke up with me because he thought he was doing

"And...what happened?"

Penn and started college, and he moved to New York City to start the gallery.And I guess you know the rest of that

"I see..."

not some Band-Aid you put on the relationship, thinking it's gonna save it.In fact,marriage is only gonna highlight the problem

spoken like a true

chuckled and

this situation amusing," I

you gonna tell Elliott

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

he said, "Hey E, can I ask

"Hmm?"

love

"Of course!"

quickly and

I'm in a yearlong relationship with a man

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

Tristan argued.

love a lot

I stammered a little.

and I love you

you love lan?"Tristan was quick

"Exactly..."I admitted in defeat.

with an expression I couldn't decipher and let

looking at me

said love, not

probably just

me you're talking to.You don't

face and I knew

out loud, that I was still hopelessly in love

am I gonna do? I’m gonna

say no to Elliott, it might

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

not that I don't love

been hurt so bad before, I'm scared of

want to love Elliott the way he deserves to be loved, but I just need

time with Elliott to figure things out? To see if you can love him the way you do

much.Does that sound

E.What if you never get there?"he

never love him as much

thing I'm afraid of..."I

a

now, we just continued walking aimlessly while our thoughts

do me a favor?"I said after

"Anything,"he said quickly.

in a foreign place, he doesn’t have any

just need to take a walk and reorganize my thoughts, alone,

reassuringly,

"Thanks, T,"

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

knowingly at each other,

and he

second,

asked for, I was left alone with

about fifteen

counting or anything, but when I looked up at the street sign, I realized I was

didn't seem like much when your mind was

ritual of making

anything, but it was all in

lot more

He is genuinely a really good guy and he loves me a

a