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

agreed to meet at this bar not too far from my

learned was that people were not what

the phone, but as soon as we met that night, all he wanted to do was

it wasn’t a great

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

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

talking about the French

was

form, and French people were more than

that French men

French men in the city, but I was talking about

side more openly

feminine side

France, guys were more vocal about

care about being too forward or mushy,

uninvited tongue down my throat did not scream

I don't think this

said as I pushed

in confusion as I gathered my

"Something wrong?"he asked.

to ask, I don’t even know where to begin.I smiled politely at him and said, "Sorry, I'm just not into it.Have a good

to say another word, I turned to my heels and walked out of the bar in a

at night and I didn’t feel like

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

could use some of this,"he lent out a pack of cigarettes to me, and I shook my

good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

are you

"Georgia originally,"

from Tennessee.Because you're the

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

laughed at the

was pretty good even though his accent

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

Jacques,"he put his hand out

I was about to pull away, however,

tension in the air,

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

college.I'm on an exchange

thought you are a

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes

look at you, everyone

help but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one who's made

"What?"

you're looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes at

I can keep

said,"we both said this

eyes met again and we smiled appreciatively

weird moment, like we both somehow clicked

Uber pulled up in front of the

ride, I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

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

funny

to respond to that, so

that night, I did agree on getting dinner with him

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

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

last time I went out

surprisingly a very

date, we got dinner at this

dinner, I found out that he

we took a walk along the river after dinner and we talked about everything from music

hold my

a twenty five year old guy asking to hold my hand

date, Elliott and I went to the Carnavalet Museum and took

the time we got to the garden, so the

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

did kiss

garden at

a short, sweet

feeling I

took a day

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

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

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

was very