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

quickly learned was that

looked nice in 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 say, it wasn’t

into this date thinking that ms

famous for? No, not the

was talking about the

France was more

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

French

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

side more openly than guys in

feminine side were often considered

about their love

about being too forward or mushy, they

my throat did not scream romance to

I don't think this

said as I pushed Olivier

looked at me in confusion as I gathered my purse

"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

to my heels and walked

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

in front of the bar, when suddenly a tall guy in messy dirty blonde

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

the looks of it, you could use some of this,"he lent out

good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are

"Georgia originally,"

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

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

eyes met and we laughed at the

was pretty good even though

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

about to pull away, however, he held onto it

was tension in the

tell me, aside from being drop-dead gorgeous, what do you for a

on an exchange

my mistake.I thought you are

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes at

every time I look at you,

couldn’t help but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one

"What?"

looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

my

I can keep going all night

said,"we both

and we smiled appreciatively at each

moment, like we both somehow clicked

that moment, my Uber pulled up in front of the bar

my ride, I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

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

funny yet

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

at the end of that night, I did agree on getting dinner with him and he did

meet-up with Olivier at that bar, I hadn't been on a proper

as going on a date since we mostly stayed in his apartment and made

couldn't remember the last time

surprisingly a very

first date, we got dinner at this romantic

having dinner, I found out that he

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

hold my

old guy asking to hold my hand instead of shoving their tongue down my

went to the Carnavalet Museum and took a walk around the

by the 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,

kiss that

garden at

a short, sweet

I had a feeling I wouldn't forget it

our third date, we took a day trip to

area with a castle, historical

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

could try 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

was very