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 we bonded over our

at this bar not too

learned

guy on the phone, but as soon

to say, it wasn’t a great

going into this date thinking that ms

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

talking about

was

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

noticed that French

in the city, but I was talking about their

side more openly than guys in

men showing their feminine side were often considered gay

about their

forward or mushy, they only did what they

tongue down my throat did not

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

as I pushed Olivier by

confusion as I gathered

"Something wrong?"he asked.

even know where to begin.I smiled politely at him and said, "Sorry, I'm just not into

waiting for him to say another word, I turned to my heels and

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

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

the looks of it, you could use some of this,"he lent out a pack of cigarettes to me, and

I’m good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are you

"Georgia originally,"

you're from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

at the

his English was pretty good even though his accent

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

away, however, he

in the air,

being drop-dead gorgeous, what do

college.I'm on an exchange

mistake.I thought you

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes

every time I look at you, everyone else

couldn’t help but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

the one who's made

"What?"

you're looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes at

keep

what she said,"we both

and we smiled appreciatively at

a weird moment, like we both

up in front of the bar and I took a step towards

I have

"Wait, before you go,"

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

funny yet

know how to respond to that, so I just

did agree on getting dinner with him and he did get my

hadn't been on a proper date with a

as going on a date

honestly couldn't remember the last time I went

surprisingly a

dinner at this romantic restaurant

I found out that he

was it with teachers and me? Anyway, we took a walk along the

he could hold my hand and I let

five year old guy asking to hold my hand instead of

went to the Carnavalet

time we got to the garden, so the

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

kiss

the garden

a

a feeling I

took a day trip to Loire

a beautiful area with a castle, historical towns,

a wine tasting in the vineyard and Elliott kept raving about

the lips, parting my mouth open with the tip of his tongue, and a slurp of wine poured into

was very smooth