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.

beautiful eyes, and we

bar not too far from my apartment

thing about online dating that I quickly learned was that people

he seemed like a genuine guy on the phone, but as soon

to say, it

I was too naive going into this date thinking that ms nA im his

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

was talking about the French

in France was more than

people were more than willing to indulge

French men

French men in the city, but I

embrace their feminine side more

their feminine side were often considered gay

France, guys were more vocal about their

care about being too forward or mushy, they only did

their uninvited tongue down my throat did

sorry, I don't think this

said as I pushed Olivier by

as I

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

I turned to my heels and walked out of

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

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

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

I’m good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are you

"Georgia originally,"

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

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

met and we laughed at the lameness

was pretty good even though

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

was about to pull away, however, he held onto it a second

in the air,

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

college.I'm on an exchange program,"I

mistake.I thought you are

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes

look at you,

couldn’t help but

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one who's made

"What?"

looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes at

can keep going all night

what she said,"we both said this

met again and we smiled appreciatively at each other’s

like we

moment, my Uber pulled up in front of the bar and I took

ride, I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

my tracks, pausing for a second before saying, "Don’t tell me if you want me to take you out to dinner.Just smile for yes or kick me in the nuts

was funny yet

to that, so I just

I did agree on getting dinner with him and he

that bar, I hadn't been on a proper

I couldn't really count that as going on a date since we mostly stayed in his apartment

remember the last time I went out on a

was surprisingly a very sweet

got dinner at this romantic restaurant by the

we were having dinner, I found out that

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

hold my hand

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

to the Carnavalet Museum and took

sunset by the time we got to

face a lot throughout the day and when I confronted him about it, he calmly responded with, "I keep

did kiss that

the garden

was just a short,

I wouldn't forget it

our third date, we took a

a castle, historical towns, vineyards, and fruit

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

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

very smooth with