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

at this bar not

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

phone, but as soon as we

to say, it wasn’t a great

naive going into this date thinking that ms nA im his it wouldn’t

what is France famous for? No, not the French

about

France was more than

and French people were more than willing

French

men in the city, but I was talking about their

to embrace their feminine side more openly

men showing their feminine side were often

were more vocal about their love for art

about being too forward or mushy, they only did

shoving their uninvited tongue down my throat did not

no, sorry, I don't

I pushed Olivier by

confusion as I gathered my purse and stood

"Something wrong?"he asked.

know where to begin.I smiled politely at

to my heels and walked out of the bar

didn’t feel like walking home alone, so I

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

use some of this,"he lent out

I’m good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are

"Georgia originally,"

I thought you're from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

eyes met and we laughed at the lameness of

English was pretty good

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

to meet you, Emma.I’m Elliott Jacques,"he put his

to pull away, however, he held onto

tension in the air,

gorgeous, what do you for a living?"he said

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

my mistake.I thought you are

"Why?"

my

time I look at

but

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one who's

"What?"

you're looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

my eyes at

keep

both said

again and we smiled appreciatively

weird moment, like we both somehow

my Uber pulled up in front of the bar and I

I

"Wait, before you go,"

tracks, pausing for a second before saying, "Don’t tell me if you want me to take you out to dinner.Just smile for

was funny yet

how to respond to that,

at the end of that night, I did agree on getting dinner with him and he did get my

that bar, I hadn't been on a

going on a date since we mostly stayed

the last time I went out

a very

got dinner at this romantic

we were having dinner, I found out that he was

was 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

about a twenty five year old guy asking to hold my hand instead

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

time we got to the garden, so the place looked extra

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

kiss

the garden

just a short,

I wouldn't

third date, we took a

area with a castle, historical towns,

kept raving about this glass of

and he proceeded with kissing me on the lips, parting my mouth open with the tip of his tongue, and a slurp of wine poured into my

was very smooth