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.

a sweet guy with beautiful eyes, and we bonded over our

meet at this bar not too far

that I quickly learned

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

it wasn’t

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

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

was talking about the French

in France was more

an art form, and French people were more than willing

French men were

in the city, but I was talking

feminine side

America, men showing their feminine side were

vocal about their

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

my throat did

no, sorry, I don't think

as I pushed Olivier by his

as I gathered my purse and stood up

"Something wrong?"he asked.

to begin.I smiled politely at

I turned to my heels and walked out of

like walking home

when suddenly a tall guy in messy dirty blonde hair

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

looks of it, you could use some of this,"he lent out a pack of cigarettes to me, and I shook my head

good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are you

"Georgia originally,"

from Tennessee.Because you're the

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

laughed at the lameness

pretty

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

his hand out

about to pull away, however, he held onto

in the

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

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

mistake.I thought

"Why?"

my eyes

I look at you, everyone

help but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one who's made of

"What?"

you're looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes at

keep going all

what she said,"we both said

we smiled appreciatively at each other’s

was a weird moment, like we both somehow clicked

Uber pulled up in front of the bar

I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

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

was funny yet

to respond to that, so

on getting dinner with him

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

going on a

the last time I went out

was surprisingly a very

date, we got dinner at this romantic

out

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

he could hold my hand

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

went to the Carnavalet Museum and took a walk around the

by the time we got to the garden, so the place looked

looking 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 and I want to kiss

kiss

garden at

was just a

feeling I wouldn't forget it that

our third date, we took a day trip to Loire

a beautiful area with a

vineyard and Elliott kept raving about this glass

he proceeded with kissing me on the lips, parting my mouth open with the tip of his tongue, and a slurp of wine poured

very smooth