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.

like a sweet guy with beautiful eyes,

to meet at this bar not too far

quickly learned was that people were not what they

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

to say, it wasn’t a

naive going into this date thinking that ms nA im

think about it, what is France famous for? No, not the French fries, they were actually from

about the

France was more than

art form, and French people were more than willing to indulge in

noticed that French

masculine French men in the city,

tended to embrace their feminine side more

America, men showing their feminine side

more vocal about their love for

care about being too forward or mushy, they only did

my throat did not

okay, no, sorry, I don't think

as I pushed Olivier by

I gathered

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

word, I turned to my heels

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

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

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,"

from

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

eyes met and we laughed at

pretty good even though

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

Jacques,"he put his hand out to me and I

however,

in the

gorgeous, what do you

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

thought you are a

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes at

I look at you,

but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one who's made of

"What?"

you're looking

"Stop!"

my

keep

she said,"we both said this joke in

and we smiled appreciatively

a weird moment, like we

up in front of the bar and I took a step towards

ride, I

"Wait, before you go,"

a second before saying, "Don’t tell me if you want me to take you out to dinner.Just smile for yes

was funny

that, so

on getting dinner with him and

hadn't been on a proper date with a guy other than lan since I

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

the last time I went out

was surprisingly a very sweet

we got dinner at this romantic restaurant by the

I found out that he

me? Anyway, we took a walk along the river after dinner and we talked about everything

hold my hand and I

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

our second date, Elliott and I went to the Carnavalet

we got to the

was looking at my face a lot throughout the day and when I confronted him about it, he calmly responded

kiss that

the garden at

a short, sweet

I wouldn't forget it

our third date, we took a day

with a castle,

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

kissing me on the lips, parting my mouth open with the tip of his tongue, and

very