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.

seemed like a sweet guy with beautiful eyes, and

at this bar not too far from my

about online dating that I quickly learned

looked nice in his pictures and he seemed like a genuine guy on the phone, but as soon as

say, it wasn’t

too naive going into this date thinking that ms

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

was talking about the

France was more than an

like an art form, and French people were more

that French men

course, there were masculine French men in the

embrace their feminine side more openly than guys in

feminine side were often

guys were more vocal about their love for art and

forward or mushy, they only did what they

their uninvited tongue down my throat did not

yeah, okay, no, sorry, I

as I pushed

in confusion as I gathered my purse and stood up

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

to say another word, I turned to my heels and walked out of the bar in a

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

a tall guy in messy dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes approached

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

this,"he lent out

good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are

"Georgia originally,"

from Tennessee.Because you're the

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

and we laughed at the

pretty good even though his accent

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

Emma.I’m Elliott Jacques,"he put his hand out to me

about to pull away, however, he held

in the

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

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

mistake.I thought you

"Why?"

my

time I look at

help but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one

"What?"

you're looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

my eyes

keep going

she said,"we both said this

and we smiled

like we both somehow clicked

in front of the bar and

my ride, I have

"Wait, before you go,"

if you want me to

funny

know how to respond to that, so I just said,

I did agree on getting dinner with him and he did get

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

on a

time I went out

a

at this romantic restaurant by

I found out

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

he could hold my hand

five year old guy asking to

the Carnavalet Museum

the time we got to the

a lot throughout the day and when I confronted him about it, he calmly

did kiss that

garden at

was just a short,

I wouldn't forget it

we took a day trip to Loire

area with a castle, historical

and Elliott kept raving about this glass of

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 of wine poured into my

very