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

bar not

I quickly learned was that people were

genuine guy on the phone, but as soon as we met that night, all he wanted to do was to shove his tongue

say, it wasn’t

I was too naive going into this date thinking that ms nA

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

about

France was more than

and French people were

noticed that French men

were masculine French men in the city, but I was talking

their feminine side

showing their feminine side were often considered gay

guys were more vocal about their love for

forward or mushy,

tongue down my throat did not scream romance

okay, no, sorry, I don't think

pushed

as I gathered my purse and stood up

"Something wrong?"he asked.

you have to ask, I don’t even know where to begin.I smiled politely

waiting for him to say another word, I turned to my heels

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

my Uber in front of 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

I’m good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are

"Georgia originally,"

you're from Tennessee.Because you're the

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

laughed at the lameness of

was pretty

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

Elliott Jacques,"he put his hand

pull away, however, he held onto it a second

tension in the air,

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

on an exchange

mistake.I thought you are

"Why?"

my eyes

look at

couldn’t help but

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one

"What?"

looking

"Stop!"

my eyes

can keep going all

both said this joke

met again and we smiled appreciatively at

like we

pulled up in front of the bar and

my ride, I have

"Wait, before you go,"

me if you want me to take you out to dinner.Just smile for yes or kick me in the nuts for

was funny yet

know how to respond to that, so I

at the end of that night, I did agree on

meet-up with Olivier at that bar, I hadn't been on a

going on a date since we mostly stayed in his apartment and

last time I went

was surprisingly a very

date, we got dinner at

having dinner, I found out that he was actually a music

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

if he could hold

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

our second date, Elliott and I went to the Carnavalet

got to

noticed 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 and I want to

did kiss

the garden

a

a feeling I wouldn't

date, we took a day trip

with a castle, historical

the vineyard and Elliott kept raving about this glass

proceeded with kissing me on the lips, parting my mouth open with the tip of his tongue, and a slurp

was very smooth with