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

to meet at this bar not too far from my

about online dating that I quickly learned was that

the phone, but as soon as

it wasn’t

was too naive going into this date thinking that ms nA im his it wouldn’t

France famous for? No, not

talking about the

in France was more

people were more than willing

French men

French men in the city, but

to embrace their feminine side more openly than guys in

side

were more vocal about their love for art and

care about being too forward or mushy, they only

my

sorry, I don't think this

I pushed Olivier by his

I gathered my purse and stood up

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

to my heels and walked

didn’t feel like walking home alone, so

suddenly a tall

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

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

good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

are

"Georgia originally,"

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

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

eyes met and we laughed at the lameness of that pick-up

pretty good

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

however, he held onto it a

tension in the air,

what do you for

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

mistake.I thought you are a

"Why?"

my eyes at

look at you,

couldn’t help but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

the one who's made

"What?"

you're looking

"Stop!"

my eyes

I can keep going all

said,"we both

and we smiled

like we both

Uber pulled up in front of the bar and I took a

I have

"Wait, before you go,"

me if you want me to take you out to dinner.Just smile for yes or kick me in the nuts for

was funny

didn't know how to respond to that, so I just said, "You're

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

I hadn't been on a proper date with a guy other than lan

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

the last time I went out on a

surprisingly a

got dinner at this romantic restaurant

found out that he was

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

could hold

five year old guy asking to

went to the Carnavalet Museum

the time we got to the garden, so the place looked extra

he was looking at my face a lot throughout the day and when I confronted him about it, he calmly responded with, "I keep looking

did kiss that

the garden at

a short, sweet

feeling I wouldn't forget

our third date, we took a day trip to Loire

area with a castle, historical towns,

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

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

very