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.

seemed like a sweet guy with beautiful eyes, and we bonded over our love

agreed to meet at this bar not too far from

dating that I quickly learned was that people

guy on the phone, but as soon as we met that night,

it

was too naive going into this date thinking that

it, what is France famous for? No, not the French

talking about the

France was more than an

an art form, and French people were

French

the city, but I was talking about their

tended to embrace their feminine side more openly

America, men showing their feminine side

were more vocal about their love for

forward or mushy, they only did

down my throat did

okay, no, sorry, I don't

as I pushed Olivier

confusion as I

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

word, I turned to my heels and walked

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

suddenly a tall guy in messy dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

lent out a pack of cigarettes to me, and I

I’m good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are you

"Georgia originally,"

I thought you're from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

at

his English was pretty good even though his accent

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

his hand

was about to pull away, however, he held

in

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

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

my mistake.I thought you are

"Why?"

narrowed my

look

couldn’t help but

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one who's made

"What?"

you're looking Gouda

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes at

I can keep

said,"we both said this

again and we smiled

weird moment, like

my Uber pulled up in front of the bar and

ride, I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

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

funny

didn't know how to respond to that, so I just said,

night, I did agree on getting dinner with him

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

as going on a

remember the last time I went out on a proper

surprisingly a very sweet

at this romantic restaurant by the Seine

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

the river after

hold my hand and I let

was something so nice about a twenty five year old guy asking to hold my hand instead of shoving their tongue down my

and I went to the Carnavalet Museum and took a walk

got to the garden, so the place

looking at my face a lot throughout the day and when I confronted him about it, he calmly

kiss

the garden at

just a

I had a feeling I

took a day trip

a castle, historical towns, vineyards, and fruit

and Elliott kept raving about this glass of wine being the best wine

it and he proceeded with kissing me on the lips, parting my mouth open with the tip of

was very smooth with