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 we bonded over our love of

bar not too

that I quickly learned was that people

and he seemed like a genuine guy on the phone, but as soon as we met that night, all he wanted

it wasn’t a

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

France famous for? No, not the French fries, they were

about the

was more than an

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

that French men

in the city,

feminine side

side were often considered

France, guys were more vocal about their love for

didn’t care about being too forward or mushy,

uninvited tongue down my throat did not scream

sorry, I don't think

said as I pushed

confusion as I gathered

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

to say another word, I turned to my heels

didn’t feel like walking

suddenly a tall guy in messy dirty blonde hair and bright blue

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

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

good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are

"Georgia originally,"

you're from Tennessee.Because you're the

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

we laughed at the lameness of that

his English was pretty good even though his

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

his hand out to me and

pull away, however,

in the air,

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

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

my mistake.I thought you are

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes at

I look at you, everyone else

help but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

the one

"What?"

you're looking Gouda

"Stop!"

my eyes at

keep going

said,"we both said this joke

met again and we smiled appreciatively at

a weird moment, like we

of the

my ride, I

"Wait, before you go,"

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

was funny

that, so I just

I did agree on

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

again, I couldn't really count that as going on a date since we mostly

time I went

surprisingly a

we got dinner at this romantic restaurant by the

we were having dinner, I found out that he

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

could hold my hand and

about a twenty five year old guy asking

I went to the Carnavalet Museum and took a

we got to the garden, so the place looked

the day and when I confronted him about it, he calmly responded with, "I keep looking at your because it’s so beautiful and

kiss that

garden

just a short,

had a feeling I wouldn't forget it

date, we took

a castle, historical towns, vineyards, and fruit

tasting in the vineyard and Elliott kept raving about this glass of wine

if I could try it and he proceeded with kissing me on the lips, parting my mouth open with the tip of his tongue, and

very smooth with