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 over our love of

to meet at this bar not too far

learned was that people were not what they

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

say, it wasn’t

too naive going into this date thinking that ms

famous for? No, not the French

about the

in France was more than

were more than willing

that French men

were masculine French men in the city, but I

tended to embrace their feminine side more openly than guys

their feminine side were

more vocal about

or

down my throat

no, sorry, I don't

said as I pushed

looked at me in confusion as I gathered my purse and stood up

"Something wrong?"he asked.

I don’t even know where to begin.I smiled politely

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

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

bar, when suddenly a

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

of it, you could use some of this,"he lent out a pack of cigarettes to me, and I shook

I’m good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

are

"Georgia originally,"

thought you're from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

we laughed at the

was pretty good even though

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

about to pull away, however, he held onto

in

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

third year of college.I'm on an

my mistake.I thought you are a

"Why?"

my eyes at

I look at you, everyone else

but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one who's made

"What?"

looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

my eyes

I can keep going

both

and we smiled

weird moment, like we both somehow clicked

my Uber pulled up in front of the bar and I took

my ride, I have

"Wait, before you go,"

my tracks, pausing for a second before saying, "Don’t tell me if you want me to take you out to dinner.Just smile

funny

to respond to that, so

did agree on getting

hadn't been on a proper date with

count that as going on a date since we mostly

remember the last time I went out

surprisingly a very sweet

date, we got dinner at

found out that he was actually a music

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

hold my

old guy asking to hold my hand instead of shoving their

our second date, Elliott and I went to the Carnavalet Museum and took

to the garden, so

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

did kiss that

the garden

a

feeling I wouldn't forget it

our third date, we took

a beautiful area with a castle,

in the vineyard and Elliott kept raving about this glass of wine being the

lips, parting my mouth open with the tip of his

very smooth