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

bar

learned was that people were not

nice in his pictures and he seemed like a genuine guy on the phone, but as soon as we met that night, all he

say, it

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

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

talking about

in France was more

people were more than willing to indulge in them in

that French men

course, there were masculine French men in the city, but I was

embrace their feminine side more openly than guys

men showing their feminine side were often

were more vocal about their

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

shoving their uninvited tongue down my throat did not

I don't think this gonna

as I pushed

at me in confusion as I gathered my

"Something wrong?"he asked.

even know where to begin.I smiled politely at

for him to say another word, I turned to my

at night and I didn’t feel like walking

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

saw you inside.From the looks of it, you could use some of this,"he lent out

I’m good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are you

"Georgia originally,"

I thought you're from

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

met and we laughed at the lameness of that pick-up

guy, his English was pretty good even though his accent

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

Jacques,"he put his hand

pull away, however, he held onto it

was tension in the air,

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

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

my mistake.I thought you

"Why?"

my eyes at

look at

but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

the one who's

"What?"

you're looking Gouda

"Stop!"

my eyes at

can keep going all night

both said this joke

eyes met again and we smiled appreciatively at each other’s

moment, like we both somehow

of the bar and I took a

my ride, I have

"Wait, before you go,"

me to take you out to dinner.Just

was funny yet

that, so I just said, "You're

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

on a proper date with a guy other than lan since

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

last time I went out on a

a very sweet

dinner at this

found out that he was actually a music

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

asked if he could hold my hand and

was something so nice about a twenty five year old guy asking to

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

the time we got to the garden, so the

noticed he was looking at my face a lot throughout the day and when I confronted him about it, he calmly responded with, "I keep looking

did kiss

garden

was just a short, sweet

had a feeling I wouldn't forget

third date, we took

a castle, historical towns, vineyards, and fruit

wine tasting in the vineyard and Elliott kept raving

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