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.

beautiful eyes, and we bonded over our

agreed to meet at this bar not

I quickly learned was that people were

guy on the phone, but as

to say, it

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

for? No, not the French fries, they were

about the French

in France was

art form, and French people were more than willing to

that French men were

were masculine French men in the city,

feminine side more openly than guys in

their feminine side were often

were more vocal about their

being too forward or mushy, they only did what they

tongue down my

I don't think this

pushed

in confusion as I gathered my purse and

"Something wrong?"he asked.

if you have to ask, I don’t even know where to begin.I smiled politely

turned to my heels and walked out of the bar

and I didn’t feel like walking home

was waiting for my Uber in front of the bar, when suddenly a tall guy in

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

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

I’m good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

are you

"Georgia originally,"

from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

eyes met and we laughed at

was pretty

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

his hand out to me

to pull away, however, he held onto it a second

in

being drop-dead gorgeous, what do

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

mistake.I thought you are a

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes

every time I look at you, everyone

but

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one who's made

"What?"

you're looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

my eyes

can keep going

what she said,"we both said this

and we smiled

a weird moment, like we both

of the bar and I took a step towards

I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

for a second before saying, "Don’t tell me if you want me to take you out to dinner.Just smile for yes or kick me in the nuts for

funny yet

that, so

on getting dinner with him and he did

hadn't been on a proper date with a guy other than

I couldn't really count that as going on a date

last time I went out on

surprisingly a very sweet

date, we got dinner at this romantic restaurant

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 music to our

asked if he could hold my hand

was something so nice about a twenty five year old guy asking to hold

to the Carnavalet Museum and took

sunset by the time we got to the

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

kiss

garden at

a short,

I wouldn't forget it

third date, we took a day trip to Loire

a castle, historical

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

him 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 a slurp of wine poured into

very smooth with