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 we bonded over our

at this bar

thing about online dating that I quickly learned was that

like a genuine guy on the phone, but as soon as we met that night, all he wanted to do was to shove

to say, it wasn’t a

too naive going into this date thinking that ms nA

it, what is France famous for? No, not the

was talking about

was more

art form, and French people were more than willing

French men were

there were masculine French men in the city,

to embrace their feminine side more openly than guys

America, men showing their feminine side were often considered

vocal about their love

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

my throat did not scream romance

no, sorry, I don't think

as I pushed Olivier by

me in confusion as I gathered my purse and stood up

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

I turned to my heels and walked out of the

didn’t feel like walking home alone,

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

this,"he lent out a pack of

I’m good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are

"Georgia originally,"

from

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

at the

French guy, his English was pretty good even

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

I was about to pull away, however,

was tension in the air,

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

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

thought you are a

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes at

I look at

couldn’t help but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one who's

"What?"

looking

"Stop!"

my

can keep

said,"we both said this joke

and we smiled appreciatively at each other’s

like we both somehow clicked

in front of the bar and I took a step

I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

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

was funny yet

didn't know how to respond to that,

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

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

really count that as going on a date

couldn't remember the last time I went out on

a very sweet

we got dinner at this romantic restaurant by

found out that he was

it with teachers and me? Anyway, we took a walk along the river after dinner and we talked about everything from music to our

hold my hand and I

old guy asking to

and I went to the Carnavalet Museum and took a walk

sunset by the time we got to

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

did kiss

the garden

just a short, sweet

had a feeling I wouldn't

date, we took a day trip to Loire

beautiful area with a castle, historical towns, vineyards,

and Elliott kept raving about this glass of wine

lips, parting my mouth open with the tip of his tongue, and a slurp of wine

very smooth