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 we bonded over our love

agreed to meet at this bar

learned was that

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

it wasn’t a great

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

about it, what is France famous for? No, not the French fries, they were actually from

talking about the French

in France was more

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

that French men

the city, but I was talking about

to embrace their feminine side

their feminine side were often

guys were more vocal about their love for

forward or mushy,

their uninvited tongue down my throat did not scream romance to

yeah, okay, no, sorry, I don't think

I pushed Olivier

as I gathered my purse

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

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

feel like walking home

my Uber in front of the bar, when suddenly a

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

lent out a pack of cigarettes to me, and I

good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are you

"Georgia originally,"

you're from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

eyes met and we laughed at the lameness of that

a French guy, his English was pretty good

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

Elliott Jacques,"he put his hand out

was about to pull away, however, he held onto

was tension in the air,

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

on an

thought you

"Why?"

narrowed my

I look at you,

but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one who's made

"What?"

looking Gouda

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes

can keep going all night

she said,"we both said this joke in

and we smiled appreciatively at each other’s

moment, like we

moment, my Uber pulled up in front of the bar and I

I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

want me to take you out to dinner.Just

was funny yet

know how to respond to that, so I just said, "You're

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

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

again, I couldn't really count that as going on a date

the last time I went out

was surprisingly a very

at

dinner, I found out that he was actually a

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

asked if he could hold my hand

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

I went to the Carnavalet Museum and took

sunset by the time we got to the garden, so the place looked

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

did kiss that

the garden at

just a short, sweet

feeling I wouldn't forget

third date, we took a day trip to Loire

was a beautiful area with a castle, historical towns, vineyards,

Elliott kept

it and he proceeded with kissing me on the lips, parting my mouth

very smooth with