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.

sweet guy with beautiful eyes, and we bonded over our love of Harry

this bar not too far from

thing about online dating that I quickly learned was that

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

to say, it wasn’t a

naive going into this date thinking that ms nA im his it

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

about the French

in France was

people were

that French

the city, but I was talking about

feminine side

their feminine side were often considered gay or

vocal about

being too forward or mushy, they only did what

uninvited tongue down my throat did not scream romance to

I don't think this gonna

as I pushed Olivier by his

in confusion as I gathered my purse

"Something wrong?"he asked.

to ask, I don’t even know where to begin.I smiled politely at him and said, "Sorry,

to my heels and walked out of the bar in

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

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

some of this,"he lent out a pack of cigarettes to me, and I

good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

are you

"Georgia originally,"

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

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

we laughed at the

guy, his English was pretty good even though his accent

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

Elliott Jacques,"he put his hand out to

away, however,

was tension in the

gorgeous, what do you for a living?"he said after

year of college.I'm on an exchange program,"I said,

mistake.I thought

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes

every time I look at

couldn’t help but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one who's made of

"What?"

looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

rolled my

can keep going all night

said,"we both said this joke in

met again and we smiled appreciatively at

a weird moment, like we both

of the bar and

ride, I

"Wait, before you go,"

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

funny yet

to that, so I just

I did agree on getting dinner with him and he

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

really count that as going on a date since we mostly stayed in

remember the last time I

was surprisingly a very sweet

date, we got dinner at this romantic restaurant by the

out that he was actually

and me? Anyway, we took a walk along the river after dinner and we talked about everything from music to our existential

asked if he could hold my hand and I

so nice about a twenty five year old guy asking to hold my hand instead of shoving

Elliott and I went to the Carnavalet Museum

sunset by the time we got to the garden,

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

kiss

the garden at

just a short,

had a feeling I wouldn't forget it

we took a

with a castle, historical towns, vineyards,

and Elliott kept raving about

the lips, parting my mouth open with the tip of his

very smooth