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.

with beautiful eyes, and we bonded over our love

at this bar not too far

quickly learned was

as soon as

say, it wasn’t a

too naive going into this date thinking that

about it, what is France famous for? No, not

talking about the French

France was more than an

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

French

men in the city, but

side more openly than

America, men showing their feminine side were often

France, guys were more vocal about their love

didn’t care about being too forward or mushy, they only did what they

uninvited tongue down my throat did not

okay, no, sorry, I

pushed Olivier by

as I gathered my purse and stood

"Something wrong?"he asked.

gee, 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

for him to say another word, I turned to my heels

feel like walking home alone, so I decided

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

of it, you could use some of this,"he lent

I’m good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are

"Georgia originally,"

from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

we laughed at the lameness

English was pretty good even though his accent was

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

Elliott Jacques,"he put his hand out to

about to pull away, however, he

tension in the

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

of college.I'm on

my mistake.I thought

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes at

look at

but

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one

"What?"

looking Gouda

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes at

keep going all night

she said,"we both said this

eyes met again and we smiled appreciatively at

was a weird moment, like we both somehow

Uber pulled up in front of the bar and I took a step

I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

second before saying, "Don’t tell me if you want me to

funny

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

night, I did agree on getting

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

a date since we mostly

the last time I went

was surprisingly a very

at this romantic restaurant by the

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

Anyway, we took a walk along the river

asked if he could hold my hand

about a twenty five year old guy asking

second date, Elliott and I went to the Carnavalet

by the time we got to the garden, so the

at my face a lot throughout 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 that

garden at

was just a short,

I wouldn't forget it that

date, we took a day trip

was a beautiful area with a castle, historical

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

it and he proceeded with kissing me on the lips, parting my mouth open with

was very smooth with