Teacher's Girl (Aflyingwhale)

EMMA’s POV : For the first time in eight months, I typed his name into a google search.

A few things came up.

There was an article in The New Yorker about the gallery’s grand opening.

The article praised the exhibition, calling it a creative space for international contemporary art lovers.

There was also a picture of lan and Ally, standing together in front of the gallery with Mayor de Blasio.

They were smiling from ear to ear.

They sure made a great looking couple.

That was painful to see.

The article even called them ' the power duo’, New York's hottest art lovers.

I put my phone down and immediately regretted my decision.

I should have never googled an ex.

Ever.

But I was stubborn.

After my friends went back to the States, I was alone in my apartment again and I was forced to deal with my feelings.

There were still a few days left in the holiday, so I had no excuse to be busy with school or the internship.

In my desperate, boredom stage, I ended up googling his name again.

This time, I found Ally’s social media page.

lan had deleted his Instagram profile ages ago, right around when we started dating.

He wanted to keep himself and his activities hidden from the world.

He also never liked the idea of social media in the first place.

But finding Ally’s Instagram page was like finding a land mine.

Her page was filled with pictures of her and lan.

Ian looked...great, of course.

His hair was longer and his jaw was scruffier.

He wore a lot of suits now and he looked amazing in them.

His tattoos would peak out of his collar and I remembered how much I enjoyed running my fingers through his inked skin.

Ugh! I need to stop! We just entered a new year and this year my resolution was to stop pining over my long lost love.

Stalking his girlfriend’s instagram page wasn't gonna help my case.

I threw my stupid phone on the bed groaned into a pillow.

I'm so pathetic! I can’t keep living like this! I have to do something! Suddenly, I was hit with an idea.

I grabbed my phone again and stared blankly at the screen for a few seconds.

Not wanting to overthink things anymore, my finger tapped the screen several times and I got right to work.

This was probably not one of my brightest moments.

I just download Tinder.

For a while, all I did in that app was swipe people.

Swiping left, swiping right, it was just something to entertain myself.

I wasn’t in any mood to find love, especially not on Tinder in a foreign land.

I was just bored, honestly.

And looking at these guys’ faces on my screen was a safe way to remind myself that there are other people out there.

There could still be a future for me after lan Hayes.

Sometimes the guys I matched with would send me messages and they could be flattering.

They were a great confidence boost, and I would leave it at that.

But some days when I got super bored, I ended up replying to their messages.

I didn't think of much of it.

I only downloaded the app for fun anyway.

But after talking to several guys for a few weeks, the idea of meeting one of them seemed enticing.

"I don’t have to marry the guy, I’m just looking for friends,"

I said to myself.

So one day in early March, I agreed to go on a date with this guy, Olivier.

guy with beautiful eyes, and

agreed to meet at this bar not too far from

about online dating that I quickly learned was that people were not what

he seemed like a genuine guy on the phone, but as soon as we met that night, all he wanted to do was

to say, it wasn’t a great

into this date thinking that ms nA im his

mean, think about it, what is France famous for? No, not

was talking about

in France was

art form, and French people were more

noticed that French

in the city, but I was talking

tended to embrace their feminine side more openly

side were often considered

more vocal about their love for art

about being too forward or mushy,

shoving their uninvited tongue down my throat did not scream romance

okay, no, sorry, I don't

I pushed Olivier by his

at me in confusion as I gathered my purse and stood

"Something wrong?"he asked.

have to ask, I don’t even know where to begin.I smiled politely at him and said, "Sorry, I'm just not into it.Have

him to say another word, I turned to

was late at night and I didn’t feel like walking home alone, so I decided to

was waiting for my Uber in front of the bar, when suddenly a tall guy in messy dirty blonde hair

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

it, you could use some of this,"he lent out a pack of cigarettes to me, and I shook my head

I’m good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

are you

"Georgia originally,"

I thought you're from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

and we laughed at

English was pretty good even though

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

put his hand out

about to pull away, however, he held onto it

tension in the air,

tell me, aside from being drop-dead gorgeous, what do

my third year of college.I'm on an

thought you

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes

I look at

help but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

the one who's made of

"What?"

looking

"Stop!"

my eyes

can keep

she said,"we both said this

again and we smiled appreciatively at

was a weird moment, like we

that moment, my Uber pulled up in front of the bar and I took a

I have

"Wait, before you go,"

want me to take you out to dinner.Just smile

funny

to that,

that night, I did agree on getting dinner with him and he did get

Olivier at that bar, I hadn't been on a

going on a date since we

honestly couldn't remember the last time I went out on

was surprisingly a very sweet

got dinner at

found out that he was

a walk along the river after dinner and we

if he could hold my

five year old guy asking to hold my hand instead of

Elliott and I went to the

we got to the

face a lot throughout the day and when I confronted him about it,

kiss

garden at

a

had a feeling I

our third date, we took a day trip to Loire

beautiful area with a castle,

vineyard and Elliott kept raving about this glass of wine being

kissing me on the lips, parting my mouth open with

was very smooth with