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,

to meet at this bar not too far from my apartment

I quickly learned was

but as soon

it wasn’t a great

date thinking that ms nA im

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

was talking about the French

was more

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

noticed that French men

were masculine French men in the city, but I was

embrace their feminine side

showing their feminine side were often considered gay or

were more vocal about

didn’t care about being too forward or mushy, they only did what they

their uninvited tongue down my throat did not scream romance to

no, sorry, I don't think this gonna

I pushed Olivier by

I gathered my purse and stood

"Something wrong?"he asked.

smiled politely at him and said, "Sorry,

to my heels and walked out of the

feel like walking home alone, so

Uber in front of the bar, when suddenly a tall guy in messy dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes approached

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

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

I’m good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are you

"Georgia originally,"

I thought you're from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

and we laughed at the lameness of

French guy, his English was pretty good even though

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

meet you, Emma.I’m Elliott Jacques,"he put his hand out

away, however, he held

was tension in the

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

third year of college.I'm on an exchange program,"I said, sounding as casual as

mistake.I thought you are a

"Why?"

my eyes

look

but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one

"What?"

you're looking

"Stop!"

my eyes at

can keep going all night

she said,"we both said this

again and we smiled appreciatively at each

like we both

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

ride, I

"Wait, before you go,"

want me to take you out to dinner.Just smile

was funny yet

to that, so I just said, "You're

that night, I did agree on getting

bar, I hadn't been on a proper date

a date since we mostly stayed in his apartment

the last time I went out on a proper

was surprisingly a very sweet

at this romantic restaurant

I found out that he was actually a music

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

he could hold

year old guy asking to hold

and I went to the Carnavalet Museum and took a walk around the

was sunset by the time we got to the garden, so

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

did kiss that

the garden

was just a

feeling I wouldn't forget it that

date, we took

was a beautiful area with a castle,

vineyard and Elliott kept raving about this glass of wine being the

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

was very smooth