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,

agreed to meet at this bar not too far

dating that I quickly learned was that

in his pictures and he 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 my

say, it wasn’t a great

this date thinking that ms nA

famous for? No, not the French fries, they

talking about the

was more than

and French people were more than willing to indulge in them

that French men

in the city, but I

feminine side

their feminine side were often considered gay or

were more vocal about their love for art and

being too forward or mushy,

uninvited tongue down my

sorry, I don't

said as I pushed

at me in confusion as I

"Something wrong?"he asked.

don’t even know where to begin.I smiled politely at him and said,

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

didn’t feel like walking home alone,

bar, when suddenly a tall guy in messy dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

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

good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are you

"Georgia originally,"

from Tennessee.Because you're the

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

met and we laughed at

guy, his English was pretty good even though his accent

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

pull away, however, he

in

do you for a living?"he said after a

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

mistake.I thought you

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes at

time I look at you,

couldn’t help but

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one who's

"What?"

you're looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes

I can keep going

she said,"we both said this joke in

again and we smiled appreciatively at

like

of the

ride, I have

"Wait, before you go,"

a second before saying, "Don’t tell me if you want me

funny yet

to that, so

I did agree on getting dinner with him and he did

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

going on a date since we mostly stayed in his

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

surprisingly a very

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

having dinner, I found out that he was actually a

took a walk along the river after dinner and we talked about everything from music to our

hold my

twenty five year old guy asking

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

to the garden, so the place

about it, he calmly responded with, "I keep

did kiss that

the garden

just a

a feeling I wouldn't forget it

third date, we took a day trip

beautiful area with a castle, historical towns,

and Elliott kept raving about this

asked 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

was very smooth