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.

guy with beautiful eyes, and

bar not too far from

dating that I quickly learned was that people were

seemed like a genuine guy on the phone, but as soon as we met that night, all he wanted to do was to shove his tongue down

say, it

this date thinking that

is France famous for? No,

about

in France was more

people were more

that French men were

the city, but I was talking

tended to embrace their feminine side more openly than guys in

side were often considered gay

more vocal about their love for art and

or

down my throat

no, sorry, I don't

as I pushed Olivier by

confusion as I gathered my purse

"Something wrong?"he asked.

gee, if you have to ask, I don’t even know where to begin.I smiled politely at him and said,

to my heels and walked out

was late at night and I didn’t feel like

in front of the bar, when suddenly a tall

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

inside.From the looks of it, you could use some of this,"he lent out a pack of cigarettes

good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are

"Georgia originally,"

thought you're from

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

met and we laughed at the

pretty good even though

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

pull away, however, he held

was tension in the air,

tell me, aside from being drop-dead gorgeous, what do you for a living?"he said after a

college.I'm on an

mistake.I thought you are a

"Why?"

my eyes at

I look at you, everyone else

but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one who's made

"What?"

you're looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

my

keep

she said,"we both said this joke in

and we smiled appreciatively

weird moment, like

of the bar and

I

"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 me

funny

how to respond to that,

night, I did agree on getting dinner with him

with Olivier at that bar, I hadn't been on a proper

on a date since we mostly stayed in his apartment

couldn't remember the last time I went out on

surprisingly a very

got dinner at this romantic restaurant by the Seine

I found out that he was actually

the river after dinner and we talked about everything from music to our existential

asked if he could hold my hand

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

Elliott and I went to the Carnavalet Museum and took

we got to the garden, so the place

noticed he was looking at my face a lot throughout the day and when I confronted him about it, he

did kiss that

garden

a short,

I wouldn't forget

took

a castle,

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

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

very