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.

with beautiful eyes, and

this bar not too far

online dating that I quickly learned was that people were not what they

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

it wasn’t

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

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

talking about the

in France was more than

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

French men were

French men in the city, but

side more openly

their feminine side were often considered gay or

France, guys were more vocal about their

care about being too forward or

down my throat did not

no, sorry, I don't think this

said as I pushed

at me in confusion as I gathered my

"Something wrong?"he asked.

have to ask, I don’t even know where to begin.I smiled politely at him and said, "Sorry, I'm just

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

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

was waiting for my Uber in front of the bar, when suddenly a tall guy in messy dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

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

good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are

"Georgia originally,"

thought you're from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

at the

French guy, his English was pretty good even though his

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

you, Emma.I’m Elliott Jacques,"he put his hand out

pull away, however, he held

tension in the

being drop-dead gorgeous, what do you for a

third year of college.I'm on an

thought

"Why?"

narrowed my

look at you,

but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one who's made

"What?"

looking Gouda

"Stop!"

my eyes at

I can keep going

said,"we both said

eyes met again and we smiled appreciatively

moment, like

my Uber pulled up in front of

ride, I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

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

funny yet

how to respond to that, so I just

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

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

count that as going on a date since we mostly

couldn't remember the last time I went out on a

surprisingly a

our first date, we got dinner at

dinner, I found out that he

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

could hold my hand and I let

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

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

sunset by the time we got to the garden, so the

it, he calmly responded with, "I keep looking

did kiss

the garden

was just a short,

feeling I wouldn't forget

third date, we took a day trip

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

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

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

very