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.

eyes, and we bonded over our love

to meet at this bar not too far

quickly learned was that people were

looked nice 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

to say, it wasn’t a

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

what is France famous for? No, not the French fries, they

was talking about the French

in France was more than

French people were more than willing to indulge in them

noticed that French men were

men in the city, but I was

their feminine side more openly than guys

men showing their feminine side were

were more vocal about their love

care about being too forward or mushy, they

their uninvited tongue down my throat did not scream romance

okay, no, sorry, I don't think this gonna

as I pushed Olivier by his

looked at me in confusion as I gathered my purse and

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

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

late at night and I didn’t feel like walking home alone, so

when suddenly a tall guy in messy dirty

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

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

I’m good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

are

"Georgia originally,"

thought you're from Tennessee.Because you're the

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

at the lameness of that pick-up

was pretty good even

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

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

tension in

do you

in my third year of college.I'm on an exchange program,"I said,

my mistake.I thought you are a

"Why?"

my eyes

look at you,

help but

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one who's made of

"What?"

you're looking Gouda

"Stop!"

rolled my

keep going

said,"we both said

met again and we smiled appreciatively

a weird moment, like we

front of the bar and I took a step towards

ride, I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

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

was funny

didn't know how to respond to that, so I

of that night, I did agree on getting dinner with him and he did get my

been on a proper

I couldn't really count that as going on a date since we mostly stayed in his apartment and made

remember the last time I went out on

surprisingly a very

we got dinner at this romantic

having dinner, I found out that

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

if he could hold my hand

five year old guy asking to hold my hand

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

was sunset by the time we got to the

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

kiss that

garden at

was just a short,

had a feeling I wouldn't forget it

date, we took a day trip

area with a castle, historical towns, vineyards, and fruit

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

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

very smooth