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.

eyes, and we bonded over our love of

meet at this bar not too far from my

learned

in his pictures and he seemed like a genuine guy on the phone, but as soon as we met that

it wasn’t

I was too naive going into this date thinking that ms nA im his it wouldn’t go

about it, what is France famous for? No, not the French fries, they were actually from

was talking about the

in France was more than

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

noticed that French men were

French men in the city,

tended to embrace their feminine side more openly than

America, men showing their feminine side were often

France, guys were more vocal about their love for art and

forward or mushy,

their uninvited tongue down my throat

yeah, okay, no, sorry, I don't think

pushed Olivier by

as I gathered my

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

turned to my heels and walked out

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

bar, when suddenly a tall

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

looks of it, you could use some of this,"he lent

good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are you

"Georgia originally,"

from

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

we laughed at the lameness of that

English was pretty good

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

Elliott Jacques,"he put his hand out to me and I

was about to pull away, however, he held onto it

was tension in the

me, aside from being drop-dead gorgeous, what do you for a

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

my mistake.I thought you are a

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes at

every time I look at you, everyone else

couldn’t help but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

the one who's

"What?"

looking Gouda

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes

keep going all night

said,"we both said this joke in

eyes met again and we smiled appreciatively at each

was a weird moment, like we both

my Uber pulled up in front of the bar and I

I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

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

was funny yet

to that, so I

that night, I did agree on getting dinner

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

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

remember the last time I

was surprisingly a

we got dinner at

found out that he was actually a

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

asked if he could hold my

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

our second date, Elliott and I went to the Carnavalet Museum and took a

was sunset by the time we got to the garden, so

face a lot throughout the day and when I confronted him about it, he calmly responded with, "I keep looking

did kiss that

garden at

just a short, sweet

feeling I wouldn't forget it

third date, we took a day

was a beautiful area with a castle, historical towns, vineyards, and fruit

kept raving about this glass

on the lips, parting my mouth open with the tip of

was very smooth