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.

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

to meet at this bar not too

I quickly learned was that people were not what they

in his pictures and he seemed like a genuine guy on the phone, but as soon as we met that night, all he wanted to do was to shove his

to say, it wasn’t a great

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

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

was talking about

in France was

people were more

French men were

course, there were masculine French men in the city, but

embrace their feminine side more openly

side were often considered gay or

guys were more vocal about their love for art and

being too forward or mushy, they only did

shoving their uninvited tongue down my throat

I don't think this

said as I pushed Olivier by

at me in confusion as I gathered

"Something wrong?"he asked.

to begin.I smiled politely at him

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

late at night and I didn’t feel like walking home alone, so I decided to

for my Uber in front of the bar, when suddenly a tall guy in messy dirty blonde

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

some of this,"he lent out

I’m good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are

"Georgia originally,"

you're from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

eyes met and we laughed at the lameness of that pick-up

his English was pretty good even though

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

to pull away, however, he held

in

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

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

mistake.I thought you are a

"Why?"

my

look at you, everyone

help but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

the one who's made

"What?"

looking Gouda

"Stop!"

my

I can keep going

both said this joke

and we

weird moment, like we

Uber pulled up in front of

my ride, I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

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

was funny yet

that, so I just said, "You're

of that night, I did agree on getting dinner with him and

on a

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

the last time I went out on

a very sweet

date, we got dinner at this romantic restaurant by the

found out

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

could hold my hand and I

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

to the Carnavalet Museum and took

by the time we got to

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

kiss that

the garden

a short, sweet

a feeling I wouldn't forget

we took a day

a castle,

tasting in the vineyard and Elliott kept raving about this

parting my mouth open with the tip of his tongue, and a

very smooth