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.

a sweet guy with beautiful eyes, and we bonded

to meet at this bar not

I quickly learned was that

looked nice in 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 shove his

it wasn’t a great

I was too naive going into this date thinking that ms nA im

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

talking about the French

France was more than an

French people were more

noticed that French men were

were masculine French men in the city, but I was talking

to embrace their feminine side more openly than

feminine side were often considered gay

France, guys were more vocal about their love

forward or mushy, they only did

uninvited tongue down my throat

yeah, okay, no, sorry, I don't think

said as I pushed Olivier by

me in confusion as I

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

another word, I turned to my heels and

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

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

this,"he lent out a pack of cigarettes to me, and I shook

I’m good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

are

"Georgia originally,"

thought you're from Tennessee.Because you're

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

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

French guy, his English was pretty good even

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

Elliott Jacques,"he put his hand out to me

pull away, however, he held onto

in the

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

of college.I'm on an exchange program,"I

thought you are a

"Why?"

my eyes at

look at you, everyone else

but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one

"What?"

looking Gouda

"Stop!"

my eyes

I can keep going all night

what she said,"we both said this

we smiled appreciatively at

was a weird moment, like we both somehow clicked

up in front of the bar and I

I have

"Wait, before you go,"

want me to take you out to dinner.Just smile for yes or kick

funny yet

didn't know how to respond to that, so I

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

the last time I went out

was surprisingly a very sweet

date, we got dinner at this romantic restaurant by the Seine

found out that

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

he could hold my hand

a twenty five year old guy asking to

the Carnavalet Museum and took a walk around

got to the garden,

lot throughout the day and when I confronted him about it, he calmly responded with, "I keep looking at your because it’s so

kiss that

the garden at

a short,

a feeling I wouldn't forget

took a

with a castle, historical

kept raving about this glass of

parting my

was very