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.

like a sweet guy with beautiful eyes, and

to meet at this bar not

quickly learned was

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

it wasn’t a great

naive going into this date thinking

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

was talking about

was

people were more than willing to

noticed that French

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

embrace their feminine side more openly than guys in

side

guys were more vocal about their

forward or mushy, they only did what

their uninvited tongue down my throat did not

no, sorry, I don't

said as I pushed Olivier

looked at me in confusion as I gathered

"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

turned to my heels and walked out of the bar

like

waiting for my Uber in front of the bar, when suddenly a

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

looks of it, you could use some of this,"he lent out a pack of cigarettes to me, and

good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are

"Georgia originally,"

from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

at the lameness of that pick-up

guy, his English was pretty good even though his

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

his hand out to me and I

I was about to pull away, however, he held

tension in the

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

in my third year of college.I'm on an exchange

thought you are a

"Why?"

narrowed my

time I look at you,

couldn’t help but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one

"What?"

looking Gouda

"Stop!"

my

I can keep going all night

what she said,"we both said this

we smiled

weird moment, like we

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

my ride, I have

"Wait, before you go,"

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

was funny

didn't know how to respond to that,

agree on getting dinner with him and he did get my

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

count that as going on a date

time I went out on a proper

a very sweet

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

having dinner, I found out that he was actually

it with teachers and me? Anyway, we took a walk along the river after dinner and we talked about everything from music to

asked if he could hold my hand and

year old guy asking to hold my hand instead

the Carnavalet Museum and took a walk around the

the time we got to the garden, so the

day and when I confronted him about it, he calmly responded with, "I keep

did kiss

garden at

was just a short, sweet

I had a feeling I wouldn't forget

third date, we took a

a castle, historical towns,

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

kissing me on the lips, parting my mouth open with the tip of his tongue,

very smooth with