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.

sweet guy with beautiful eyes, and

meet at this bar not too

quickly learned was that people were not what they

he seemed like a genuine guy on the phone, but as soon as we met that night, all he wanted

it wasn’t a great

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

France famous for? No, not the French fries, they

about

France was more

like an art form, and French people were more than willing to indulge in them in

that French men were

masculine French men in the city,

side more openly

feminine side were often

about their love for

being too forward or mushy, they

shoving their uninvited tongue down my throat did not

okay, no, sorry, I don't

as I pushed Olivier by his

I gathered my purse and stood up

"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 a

to my heels and walked out of the bar in a

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

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

saw 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,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are

"Georgia originally,"

thought you're from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

laughed at

pretty good even though his accent was

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

to pull away, however, he held onto it a

was tension in

do you for a living?"he

my third year of college.I'm on an exchange program,"I said,

thought you are a

"Why?"

my eyes

look at

but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one

"What?"

you're looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes at

keep going

what she said,"we both said this joke in

met again and we smiled appreciatively at

a weird moment, like we both somehow clicked

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

I have

"Wait, before you go,"

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

was funny yet

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

end of that night, I did agree on getting dinner with him and he did

Olivier at that bar, I hadn't been on a proper date with a guy other than lan since I

on a

time

surprisingly a

our first date, we got dinner at this romantic restaurant by the

having dinner, I found out

took a walk along the river after dinner and we talked

could hold my

guy asking to

and I went to the Carnavalet Museum and

sunset by the time we got to the garden, so the place looked extra

about it, he calmly responded with, "I

did kiss that

the garden at

was just a short,

I had a feeling I wouldn't

third date, we took a day trip to

area with a castle, historical towns, vineyards, and

Elliott kept raving about this glass of

parting my

very