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 we

agreed to meet at this bar not too

about online dating that I quickly learned was that people were not what

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

it wasn’t a

thinking that ms nA im his it wouldn’t go

it, what is France famous for? No, not

was talking about

in France was more than an

French people were more

noticed that French men were

men in the city, but I

feminine side more openly than

showing their feminine side were often considered gay or

guys were more vocal about their love

too forward or mushy, they only did what

down my throat did

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

said as I pushed Olivier by

in confusion as I gathered my purse and

"Something wrong?"he asked.

don’t even know where to begin.I smiled politely

to my heels and walked out of the bar

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

Uber in front of the bar, when suddenly a

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

lent out a

I’m good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are you

"Georgia originally,"

from Tennessee.Because you're the

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

laughed at

was pretty good even

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

away, however, he held

tension in the air,

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

on an exchange program,"I

my mistake.I thought

"Why?"

my eyes at

look at you, everyone else

help but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one who's

"What?"

looking

"Stop!"

my eyes

I can keep going all night

said,"we both said

and we smiled appreciatively at

was a weird moment, like we

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

my ride, I

"Wait, before you go,"

pausing for a second before saying, "Don’t tell me if you want me to take you

was funny yet

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

on getting dinner with

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

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

couldn't remember the last time I went out on a

was surprisingly a

dinner at this romantic

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

the river after dinner and we talked about

hold my hand and I

a twenty five year old guy asking to

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

the time we got to the

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

kiss that

garden

just a short,

I had a feeling I wouldn't forget

our third date, we took a day trip to

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

a wine tasting in the vineyard and Elliott kept raving about

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

very smooth with