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

meet at this bar not

quickly learned was

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

to say, it wasn’t a

going into this date thinking that ms nA im

mean, think about it, what is France famous for? No, not the French fries, they

talking about the

France was more than an

was like an art form, and French people were more than

French

were masculine French men in the city, but I was talking about their

to embrace their feminine side more

their feminine side were

were more vocal about their

care about being too forward or mushy, they only did

shoving their uninvited tongue down my

sorry, I don't think

I pushed

at me in confusion as I gathered my

"Something wrong?"he asked.

don’t even know where to begin.I smiled politely at him and said, "Sorry, I'm just not into it.Have a

to my heels and walked

like walking

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

use some of this,"he lent out a pack of

good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

are you

"Georgia originally,"

I thought you're from

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

and we laughed at the lameness

pretty good

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

pull away, however, he

in the

being drop-dead gorgeous, what do you for a living?"he

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

my mistake.I thought you are

"Why?"

narrowed my

every time I look at

but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one who's

"What?"

you're looking

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes at

can keep going all

both said this

eyes met again and we smiled appreciatively at

weird moment, like we both somehow

up in front of

ride, I have

"Wait, before you go,"

for a second before saying, "Don’t tell me if you want me to take you out to dinner.Just smile

was funny yet

that, so I just

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

I hadn't been on a proper date with a

going on a date

honestly couldn't remember the last time I went out on

surprisingly a very

at this romantic restaurant by

we were having dinner, I found out that he was actually a

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

asked if he could hold my hand and

year old guy asking

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

by the time we got to the

him about it, he calmly responded with, "I keep

did kiss

the garden at

a short,

had a feeling I wouldn't forget

our third date, we took a day trip to Loire

with a castle, historical towns, vineyards,

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

he proceeded with kissing me on the lips, parting my mouth open with the tip of his tongue,

very