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.

eyes, and we bonded over our love of

agreed to meet at this bar not too far from my apartment

thing about online dating that I quickly learned was that people were not what they

the phone, but as soon as we met that night, all he wanted to do was to

say, it

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

famous for? No, not the

about the French

France was

were more

noticed that French men

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

embrace their feminine side

their feminine side were often considered

vocal about their love for

about being too forward or mushy, they

shoving their uninvited tongue down my throat did

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

as I pushed Olivier by

as I gathered my purse and

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

I turned to my heels and walked out of the bar

feel like walking home alone, so I decided

bar, when suddenly a tall guy in messy dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes approached

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

you inside.From the looks of it, you could use some of this,"he lent out a pack of cigarettes to me, and I shook my

good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are you

"Georgia originally,"

from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

at the lameness of that

was pretty good even though his accent was

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

however, he

tension in

what do

on

my mistake.I thought you are

"Why?"

my

time I look at you, everyone

help but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one who's made of

"What?"

you're looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes at

keep going all night

both said

eyes met again and we smiled

a weird moment, like we both

Uber pulled up in front of the bar and I took

my ride, I

"Wait, before you go,"

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

funny

to respond to that, so I just

night, I did agree on getting dinner with him

on a proper date with

that as going on a date since we mostly stayed in his apartment

the last time I went

was surprisingly a

date, we got dinner at

were having dinner, I found out that he was actually a music

we took a walk along the river after dinner

could hold my hand and I

guy asking to hold my hand instead of shoving

date, Elliott and I went to the

we got to the

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 at your because it’s so beautiful and I want

kiss that

the garden

just a

feeling I wouldn't forget it that

we took

a beautiful area with a castle, historical towns, vineyards, and fruit

Elliott kept raving about this glass of wine being the

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

very smooth