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.

like a sweet guy with beautiful eyes, and we

meet at this bar not too

dating that I quickly learned was that people were

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

to say, it wasn’t

too naive going into this date thinking that ms nA im

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

was talking about the French

France was

were more than willing to indulge in

that French men were

were masculine French men in the city, but I was

their feminine side more openly than

men showing their feminine side were often considered gay or

vocal about their love for art

too forward or mushy,

uninvited tongue down my throat did not scream romance

okay, no, sorry, I don't

I pushed Olivier

confusion as I

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

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

feel like walking home alone, so I decided to get

was waiting for my Uber in front of the bar, when suddenly a tall guy in messy dirty

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

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

good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

are you

"Georgia originally,"

thought you're from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

laughed at the lameness

guy, his English was pretty good even though

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

his hand out to me and I took it

was about to pull away, however,

was tension in the

aside from being drop-dead gorgeous, what do you

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

my mistake.I thought

"Why?"

my eyes

look at

but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one who's

"What?"

looking

"Stop!"

my

can keep going all night

what she said,"we both said this joke

eyes met again and we smiled appreciatively at each other’s

weird moment, like we both somehow

of the bar and I

ride, I have

"Wait, before you go,"

tell me if you want me to take you out to dinner.Just smile for yes

funny yet

respond to that, so

agree on getting dinner with

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

going on a

couldn't remember the last time I went

a very

we got dinner at this romantic restaurant

out that he was actually a music

walk along the river after

hold my hand

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

I went to the Carnavalet Museum and took a

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

confronted him about it, he calmly responded with, "I keep looking at your because it’s

kiss that

the garden at

just a short,

a feeling I wouldn't forget it that

took a

was a beautiful area with a castle, historical

a wine tasting in the vineyard and Elliott kept

asked him if I could try it and he proceeded with kissing me on the lips, parting my mouth open with the

very smooth