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.

sweet guy with beautiful eyes, and we bonded over our

agreed to meet at this bar not

thing about online dating that I quickly learned

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

it wasn’t a

too naive going into this date thinking that

what is France famous for? No, not the French fries, they were

was talking about the French

France was more than

were more than willing to indulge in them in

that French men

French men in the

their feminine side more openly than

men showing their feminine side were often considered gay or

were more vocal about

about being too forward or mushy, they only did

my throat did not scream romance

I

as I pushed Olivier by his

I gathered my purse and

"Something wrong?"he asked.

even know where to begin.I smiled politely at him and said,

him to say another word, I turned to my heels and walked

and I didn’t feel like walking home alone, so I

was waiting for my Uber in front of the bar, when suddenly a

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

you inside.From the looks of it, you could use some of this,"he lent out a pack of cigarettes to me, and I

good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

are you

"Georgia originally,"

you're from Tennessee.Because you're the

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

we laughed at the lameness of that

French guy, his English was pretty good even though his accent was

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

Emma.I’m Elliott Jacques,"he put his hand out to me and I took

was about to pull away, however, he held onto it a second

tension in the air,

gorgeous, what do you for a living?"he said

on an exchange program,"I said, sounding as

mistake.I thought you are

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes at

look at

help but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one

"What?"

you're looking Gouda

"Stop!"

my eyes

I can keep going

what she said,"we both said this joke

and we smiled

moment, like we both somehow clicked

front of the bar and I took

my ride, I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

saying, "Don’t tell me if you want me to take you out to

was funny

to respond to that, so I just said,

did agree on getting dinner

that bar, I hadn't been on a proper date with a guy

that as going on a

remember the last time

was surprisingly a

dinner at this romantic restaurant by the Seine

we were having dinner, I found out that he was actually a

with teachers and me? Anyway, we took a walk along the river after dinner and

if he could hold my

asking to hold my

our second date, Elliott and I went to the Carnavalet Museum and took a

the time we got to

it, he calmly responded with, "I keep looking at your because it’s so beautiful and I want to kiss

kiss that

garden at

was just a short,

had a feeling I

we took a day

a beautiful area with a castle,

wine tasting in the vineyard and Elliott kept raving about

kissing me on the lips, parting my

was very smooth