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,

at this bar not too far

quickly learned was that

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

it wasn’t

going into this date thinking that ms nA im his it wouldn’t

is France famous for? No, not the French fries,

was talking about the

in France was more

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

that French men were

the city, but

side more openly than

America, men showing their feminine side were often

vocal about their love for

or

tongue down my throat did

I don't think this

said as I pushed Olivier

looked at me in confusion as I gathered my purse and stood

"Something wrong?"he asked.

don’t even know where to begin.I smiled

say another word, I turned to

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

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?"

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

I’m good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are

"Georgia originally,"

from Tennessee.Because you're the

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

met and we laughed at the lameness

English was pretty good

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

Elliott Jacques,"he put his hand

I was about to pull away, however, he held

in

what do you for a

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

thought you are

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes at

time I look at you, everyone else

couldn’t help but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

the one who's made

"What?"

you're looking

"Stop!"

my

can keep going all

said,"we both said this

and we

weird moment, like

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

my ride, I

"Wait, before you go,"

tracks, pausing for a second before saying, "Don’t tell me if you want me to take

funny yet

to respond to that, so I

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

on a proper date with a guy other than lan

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

remember the last time I went

was surprisingly a

first date, we got dinner at this romantic restaurant by

found out that he was actually a

the river after dinner and we talked about everything from music to

he could hold my hand and I let

twenty five year old guy asking to hold my hand instead

to the Carnavalet Museum and

time we got to the garden, so the

looking 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

did kiss that

the garden at

just a short, sweet

had a feeling I

third date, we took a day trip to

area with a castle, historical towns, vineyards,

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

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

very