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.

seemed like a sweet guy with beautiful eyes, and

bar not too far from

dating that I quickly learned was that

a genuine guy on the phone, but as soon as we met that

say, it

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

famous for? No, not

about

France was more than

and French people were more than willing to indulge in

French men were

were masculine French men in the city, but I was talking about their

tended to embrace their feminine side more

their feminine side were

were more vocal about their love for art and

about being too forward or mushy, they

down my throat did not scream romance to

yeah, okay, no, sorry, I don't

I pushed

at me in confusion as I gathered my

"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 into it.Have a good

word, I turned to my heels and walked out of the bar

like walking home alone, so I decided

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

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

I’m good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

are you

"Georgia originally,"

you're from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

laughed at the lameness

was pretty good even though his accent was

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

Jacques,"he put his hand out

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

in the air,

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

year of college.I'm on an

my mistake.I thought you

"Why?"

my eyes at

I look at you, everyone

couldn’t help but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one

"What?"

you're looking Gouda

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes at

can keep going all night

said,"we both said this

met again and we smiled appreciatively at

a weird moment, like we both

pulled up in front of the bar

ride, I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

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

was funny yet

know how to respond to that, so I

end of that night, I did agree on getting dinner with him and he

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

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

time I went out

was surprisingly a

got dinner at this romantic restaurant by

we were having dinner, I found out that he

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

asked if he could hold my hand

so nice about a twenty five year old guy asking

I went to the Carnavalet Museum

the time we got to the garden, so the place

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

kiss that

garden at

a short, sweet

a feeling I wouldn't

we took a day

beautiful area with a castle, historical towns, vineyards, and

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

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

was very