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

to meet at this bar

thing about online dating that I quickly learned was that

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

it wasn’t a great

too naive going into this date thinking that

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

talking about the

France was

French people were more than willing to

that French men were

there were masculine French men in the

tended to embrace their feminine side

their feminine side were often considered gay or

were more vocal about their love for art and

care about being too forward or mushy, they

tongue down my throat did not scream

sorry, I don't

I pushed

I gathered my purse and

"Something wrong?"he asked.

if you have to ask, I don’t even know where to begin.I smiled politely at him and said, "Sorry, I'm just not into it.Have a

word, I turned to my heels and walked

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

of the bar, when suddenly a tall

"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 I shook my

good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are you

"Georgia originally,"

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

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

at the lameness of

guy, his English was pretty good even

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

pull away, however, he held onto it a second

in the

aside from being drop-dead gorgeous, what do you for a living?"he said after

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

mistake.I thought

"Why?"

my

every time I look at you, everyone

but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one who's made

"What?"

looking Gouda

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes at

keep going all night

said,"we both said

we smiled appreciatively at

weird moment, like

pulled up in front of

ride, I have

"Wait, before you go,"

saying, "Don’t tell me if you want me to take you out to dinner.Just smile

funny yet

how to respond to that, so I

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

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

really count that as going on a date since

remember the last time I went

surprisingly a

first date, we got dinner at this romantic

having dinner, I found out that he was actually a music

the river after dinner

if he could hold

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

date, Elliott and I went to the Carnavalet Museum and took a walk

the time we got to the garden, so the

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

did kiss

the garden

a

a feeling I wouldn't forget

our third date, we took

area with a castle, historical towns, vineyards,

and Elliott kept raving

could try it and he proceeded with kissing me on the lips, parting my mouth open with the tip of his

was very smooth