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.

with beautiful eyes, and we bonded over

meet at this bar not too far

online dating that I quickly learned was that people were

on the phone, but as soon as we met that night, all he wanted to do was to shove his

it wasn’t a great

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

think about it, what is France famous for? No,

was talking about the

France was more than an

people were more than willing to indulge in

noticed that French men were

course, there were masculine French men in the

feminine side more openly than guys in

men showing their feminine side were often considered gay or

vocal about their love for art

about being too forward or mushy, they

uninvited tongue down my throat

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

said as I pushed Olivier by his

as I

"Something wrong?"he asked.

to begin.I smiled politely at him and said, "Sorry, I'm just not into it.Have a good

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

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

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

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

good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are

"Georgia originally,"

from

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

eyes met and we laughed at the lameness

his English was pretty good even though his accent was

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

put his hand out

away, however, he held onto

in the

what do you for

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

my mistake.I thought

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes at

time I look at you, everyone

but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one

"What?"

you're looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

my

keep going

both said

met again and we smiled

a weird moment, like

front of the bar and I

I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

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

funny

to respond to that,

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

been on a proper

going on a date since we mostly stayed in

time I went out on a proper

was surprisingly a very sweet

first date, we got dinner at this romantic restaurant by

dinner, I found out that he was actually a

the river after dinner and we talked about

if he could hold my

five year old guy asking to hold my hand instead of

Elliott and I went to the Carnavalet Museum and took a

sunset by the time we got to

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

kiss that

the garden at

just a short,

I wouldn't

third date, we took a day trip

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

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

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

was very smooth