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.

with beautiful eyes, and we bonded over

bar

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

on the phone, but as soon as we met that night, all he

to say, it wasn’t a great

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

what is France famous for? No, not

was talking about

in France was more than an

art form, and French people were more than willing to

that French

French men in the city, but I was

tended to embrace their feminine side more openly than

their feminine side were

about their

or mushy, they only did what they

uninvited tongue down my throat did not

sorry, I don't think this gonna

I pushed Olivier by his

me in confusion as I gathered my purse

"Something wrong?"he asked.

to begin.I smiled politely at him and said, "Sorry, I'm just not into it.Have

to my heels and walked out of

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

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

lent out

I’m good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are

"Georgia originally,"

from Tennessee.Because you're the

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

we laughed at the

English was pretty good even though his

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

his hand

I was about to pull away, however, he

tension in the

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

on an exchange program,"I said, sounding

mistake.I thought you

"Why?"

my eyes

look at

couldn’t help but

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one who's made of

"What?"

looking Gouda

"Stop!"

my eyes at

can keep going

said,"we both said this

met again and we smiled appreciatively at each

a weird moment, like we both

in front of the bar and I

my ride, I

"Wait, before you go,"

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

funny

know how to respond to that, so I just

night, I did agree on getting dinner with him and

bar, I hadn't been on a proper date with a

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

last time

a very

dinner at this romantic restaurant by the

I found out that he was actually a

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

if he could hold my hand

asking to hold my hand instead of shoving their tongue

date, Elliott and I went to the Carnavalet

by the time we got to the garden, so the place

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

did kiss

garden

a short,

a feeling I wouldn't

our third date, we took a day trip

a castle, historical towns,

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

and he proceeded with kissing me on the lips, parting

very smooth with