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.

beautiful eyes, and we bonded over our love of

agreed to meet at this bar

I quickly learned was that people were not

looked nice in his pictures and he seemed like a genuine guy on the phone, but as soon as we met that night, all he wanted to do was to shove his tongue

it wasn’t a great

too naive going into this date thinking that ms nA im his

France famous for? No, not the

about the French

in France was

like an art form, and French people were more than willing to indulge

noticed that French

men in the

to embrace their feminine side

America, men showing their feminine side were often considered gay or

about their love for art

too forward or mushy, they only

uninvited tongue down my throat did not

sorry, I don't

I pushed

at me in confusion as I gathered my purse and

"Something wrong?"he asked.

if you have to ask, I don’t even know where to begin.I smiled politely at

to my heels

late at night and I didn’t feel like

when suddenly a tall guy in messy dirty blonde hair

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

of it, you could use some of this,"he lent out a pack of cigarettes

good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

are you

"Georgia originally,"

you're from Tennessee.Because you're

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

eyes met and we laughed at the lameness of

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

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

his hand out to me and I took it

to pull away, however, he held onto it a

tension in the air,

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

in my third year of college.I'm on an exchange program,"I

my mistake.I thought you are

"Why?"

my eyes at

look

help but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one who's made of

"What?"

looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes

keep going

both said this

we smiled

moment, like we both somehow clicked

Uber pulled up in front of the bar and I took a

my ride, I

"Wait, before you go,"

me if you want me to take you out to dinner.Just smile for yes or kick me

funny yet

to respond to that, so I just said,

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

I hadn't been on a proper date with a guy other

couldn't really count that as going on a date since we mostly stayed in his apartment

last time I went out on a

a

dinner at this romantic

were having dinner, I found out that he was actually

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

hold my hand

year old guy asking to hold my hand instead of shoving their tongue down my

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

by the time we got to the garden, so the place looked extra

at my face a lot throughout the day and when I confronted him about it, he calmly responded with, "I keep looking at your because it’s so beautiful and I want to kiss

did kiss that

garden

a short,

I had a feeling I

our third date, we took a day trip

with a castle, historical

wine tasting in the vineyard and Elliott kept raving about this

parting my mouth open with the tip of his tongue, and a slurp

was very smooth