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.

eyes, and we bonded over our love of

meet at this bar not too far from my apartment

online dating that I quickly learned was that people were not

he 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 shove his

say, it wasn’t a great

date thinking that ms nA

is France famous for? No, not the

about the

France was more than an

and French people were

that French men

masculine French men in the

to embrace their feminine side more

showing their feminine side were often

guys were more vocal about their

being too forward or mushy,

down my

no, sorry, I don't think this gonna

I pushed Olivier by

me in confusion as I gathered my purse and

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

another word, I turned to my heels and walked

didn’t feel like walking home alone, so I decided to

a tall guy in messy dirty blonde

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

lent out a pack of cigarettes to

good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

are

"Georgia originally,"

thought you're from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

met and we laughed at the

his English was pretty good even though his

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

his hand

pull away, however, he held onto

was tension in

being drop-dead gorgeous, what do you

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

thought you are a

"Why?"

narrowed my

I look at you, everyone

but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

the one who's

"What?"

looking Gouda

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes at

keep going all

she said,"we both said this joke

we smiled appreciatively at each

was a weird moment, like we both somehow

up in front of the bar and I

ride, I have

"Wait, before you go,"

stopped my tracks, pausing for 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 in the nuts for

was funny yet

know how to respond to that, so I just said,

I did agree on getting dinner

been on a proper date with a guy other than lan since I

really count that as going on a date since

couldn't remember the last time

a very

got dinner at this romantic

having dinner, I found out that he was

a walk along the river after dinner and we talked about everything

if he could hold my hand and I

asking to hold my hand instead of shoving their tongue

our second date, Elliott and I went to the

to the garden, so the place looked

my face a lot throughout the day and when I confronted him about it, he

did kiss that

garden at

a short, sweet

I had a feeling I wouldn't forget it that

took

a beautiful area with a castle,

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

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

very smooth