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.

seemed like a sweet guy with beautiful eyes, and we bonded over our

to meet at this bar not too far from my

learned was that people were not

but as soon as we met that night, all he wanted

to say, it wasn’t a great

naive going into this date thinking that ms nA im his it

think about it, what is France famous for? No, not the French

about the French

in France was more than an

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

French

men in the city, but I

feminine side

men showing their feminine side were often

guys were more vocal about their love for

care about being too forward or mushy,

down my throat did not

okay, no, sorry, I don't think

I pushed Olivier by

as I gathered my purse and

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

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

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

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

good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are you

"Georgia originally,"

from Tennessee.Because you're the

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

eyes met and we laughed at the

pretty good even though his

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

put his

however,

was tension in the air,

gorgeous, what do

on an exchange program,"I said, sounding

mistake.I thought you are

"Why?"

my eyes at

every time I look at you,

but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

the one who's made

"What?"

you're looking Gouda

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes at

can keep going

said,"we both said

we smiled appreciatively at

moment, like

up in front of the bar

my ride, I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

tracks, pausing for a second before saying, "Don’t tell me if you want me to take you

funny yet

respond to that,

did agree on

weird meet-up with Olivier at that bar, I hadn't been on a proper date with a guy other than lan since I

going on a date since

time I went out

surprisingly a very sweet

our first date, we got dinner at this romantic restaurant by the Seine

we were having dinner, I found out that he was actually a music

me? Anyway, we took a walk along the river after dinner and we talked about everything

he could hold my

twenty five year old guy asking to hold my

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

got to the garden, so the place looked extra

throughout the day and when I confronted him about it, he

kiss

the garden

just a short,

I wouldn't forget it

third date, we took a day trip to

beautiful area with a castle, historical towns, vineyards,

the vineyard and Elliott kept raving about this glass

parting my mouth open with the tip of his tongue, and a slurp of wine poured into

was very