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

to meet at this bar not too far from my apartment

quickly learned was that people were

a genuine guy on the phone, but as soon as we met that night, all he

say, it wasn’t

into this date thinking that ms

what is France famous for? No, not the French

talking about the

was more than an

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

that French

were masculine French men in the city, but I

embrace their feminine side more

their feminine side were often

more vocal about

too forward or mushy, they

tongue down my throat

no, sorry, I don't think this gonna

as I pushed Olivier by

as I gathered my purse and stood

"Something wrong?"he asked.

to begin.I smiled politely at him and said, "Sorry, I'm just not into it.Have a

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

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

for my Uber in front of the bar, when suddenly a tall guy in messy

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

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

I’m good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are you

"Georgia originally,"

from

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

at the lameness

his English was pretty good even though his accent

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

Jacques,"he put his

was about to pull away, however,

tension in the air,

me, aside from being drop-dead gorgeous, what do you for a living?"he said after a while of

year of college.I'm on

mistake.I thought

"Why?"

narrowed my

time I look at

but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one

"What?"

you're looking

"Stop!"

my eyes at

keep going all

what she said,"we both said

we smiled

a weird moment, like we

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

my ride, I

"Wait, before you go,"

pausing for a second before saying, "Don’t tell me if you want me to take you out to dinner.Just smile for yes or kick

was funny yet

to respond to that, so I just said,

I did agree on getting dinner with

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

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

the last time I went

was surprisingly a

got dinner at

having dinner, I found out that he was actually

me? Anyway, we took a walk along the river after dinner and we talked about everything

hold my

so nice about a twenty five year old guy asking to hold my hand instead of shoving

second date, Elliott and I went to the Carnavalet Museum

we got to the garden, so the place looked extra

lot throughout the day and when I confronted him about it, he calmly responded with, "I keep looking at your

did kiss

garden at

a

a feeling I wouldn't

date, we took a day trip to

with a castle, historical towns, vineyards,

the vineyard and Elliott kept raving about this glass

I could try it and he proceeded with kissing me on the lips, parting my mouth open with the tip of his tongue, and a slurp

was very smooth