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.

guy with beautiful eyes, and we bonded

this bar not too far from my apartment

thing about online dating that I quickly learned was that

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

it wasn’t a great

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

think about it, what is France famous for? No, not the French fries, they

was talking about the

in France was more than

like an art form, and French people were more than willing

noticed that French

in the city, but I was talking

feminine side more openly

America, men showing their feminine side were

were more vocal about their love

forward or mushy, they only did what

down my throat did not scream romance to

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

pushed Olivier

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

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

to say another word, I turned to

was late at night and I didn’t feel like walking home alone, so I

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

some of this,"he lent out a pack of cigarettes to me,

good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are

"Georgia originally,"

from

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

met and we laughed at

French guy, his English was pretty good

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

pull away, however, he held onto it a

tension in

tell me, aside from being drop-dead gorgeous, what do you for a

third year of college.I'm on an exchange program,"I said, sounding as casual as

my mistake.I thought

"Why?"

my eyes at

time I look at you, everyone

but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one who's

"What?"

you're looking Gouda

"Stop!"

rolled my

I can keep going all

she said,"we both

eyes met again and we smiled appreciatively at

like we both

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

I

"Wait, before you go,"

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

funny yet

how to respond to that, so I just said, "You're

end of that night, I did agree on getting

on a proper date with a guy

a date since we mostly stayed in his apartment

time I went out on

was surprisingly a

dinner at this romantic restaurant by

having dinner, I found out that he was

took a walk along the river after dinner and we talked about everything from music

hold my hand

a twenty five year old guy asking to hold my hand instead of shoving

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

sunset by the time we got to the garden,

it, he calmly responded with, "I keep looking at your because it’s so

kiss

garden

was just a short, sweet

feeling I wouldn't

date, we took a day

a castle, historical towns,

kept raving about this glass of wine being the

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

very smooth with