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.

with beautiful eyes, and we bonded over our love of Harry

meet at this bar not too far from

I quickly learned was that people were not what

but as soon as we met that night, all he wanted to do was to shove his tongue down my

it wasn’t

thinking

what is France famous for? No, not

talking about

was more

were more than willing to indulge in

noticed that French

in the city,

feminine side more openly

America, men showing their feminine side were often considered gay

more vocal about

care about being too forward or mushy,

tongue down my throat did not scream romance

okay, no, sorry, I don't think this gonna

I pushed

at me in confusion as I

"Something wrong?"he asked.

have to ask, I don’t even know where to begin.I smiled politely at him and said, "Sorry, I'm

word, I turned to my heels and walked

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

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?"

of it, you could use some of this,"he lent

good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are

"Georgia originally,"

I thought you're from

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

we laughed at the lameness of that pick-up

was pretty good even though his accent was

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

Jacques,"he put his hand out to me and I took

away, however, he held onto

in the air,

what do you for a living?"he said after a while

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

thought

"Why?"

my eyes

I look

couldn’t help but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one who's made of

"What?"

looking

"Stop!"

my eyes at

keep going all night

what she said,"we both said this joke

and we smiled appreciatively at each

moment, like we both somehow clicked

of the bar and I took a

I

"Wait, before you go,"

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

was funny

to respond to that, so I

on getting dinner with him and he

on a proper date with a guy other than lan since

again, I couldn't really count that as going on a date since we mostly stayed

couldn't remember the last time I went out

was surprisingly a very

first date, we got dinner at this romantic restaurant

having dinner, I found out that he was actually a

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

could hold my hand and I

about a twenty five year old guy asking to hold my hand

I went to the Carnavalet Museum and

we got to the garden, so the place looked extra

looking at my face a lot throughout the day and when I confronted him about it,

kiss that

the garden

just a

I

our third date, we took a day

beautiful area with a castle, historical towns,

did a wine tasting in the vineyard and Elliott kept raving about this

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

very smooth