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

at this bar not too far from my

quickly learned was that people were not what they

phone, but as soon

it wasn’t a

thinking that ms nA im his

France famous for? No, not the

talking about

in France was more than an

an art form, and French people were more than

French men were

men in the city, but I was talking about

embrace their feminine side more openly than guys in

men showing their feminine side were often considered gay

were more vocal about their love for art and

care about being too forward or mushy,

shoving their uninvited tongue down my throat did not scream romance to

sorry, I don't think this

pushed Olivier by his

in confusion as I gathered my purse and stood

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

I turned to my heels and walked out of the

I didn’t feel like walking home

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?"

lent out a pack of

good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are you

"Georgia originally,"

from Tennessee.Because you're

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

laughed at the lameness of

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 and I

was about to pull away, however, he held onto it

in

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

college.I'm on an exchange program,"I said, sounding as

mistake.I thought

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes at

time I look

but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one

"What?"

looking

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes at

can keep going all night

she said,"we both

eyes met again and we smiled appreciatively at each other’s

was a weird moment, like we both somehow

pulled up in front of the bar and

my ride, I have

"Wait, before you go,"

me to

was funny

how to respond to that,

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

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

on a date

last time I went out on a proper

was surprisingly a

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

found out that he was actually a

with teachers and me? Anyway, we took a walk along the river after

could hold my hand and

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

the

was sunset by the time we got to the garden,

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

kiss that

garden

a short,

a feeling I wouldn't

we took a day trip to

with a castle, historical towns,

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

lips, parting my mouth open with the tip of his tongue,

very smooth with