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.

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

at this bar not too far from my

I quickly learned was that

in his pictures 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

to say, it wasn’t a great

was too naive going into this date thinking that

for? No, not the French fries, they were

talking about the French

France was more than an

like an art form, and French people were more than willing

that French men were

course, there were masculine French men in the

their feminine side

men showing their feminine side were often considered gay or

France, guys were more vocal about their love for

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

their uninvited tongue down my throat

no, sorry, I don't

said as I pushed Olivier

looked at me in confusion as I gathered my purse

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

waiting for him to say another word, I turned to my heels and walked out of the bar in

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

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

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

good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

are you

"Georgia originally,"

I thought you're from Tennessee.Because

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

met and we laughed at the lameness of that pick-up

guy, his English was pretty good even though his

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

to pull away, however, he held onto

in the

do you for

my third year of college.I'm on

my mistake.I thought you

"Why?"

my eyes at

time I look at

couldn’t help but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one

"What?"

looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

my eyes

can keep going all

said,"we both said this joke in

met again and we smiled appreciatively at each other’s

weird moment, like we both somehow

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

ride, I have

"Wait, before you go,"

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

was funny

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

that night, I did agree on getting

been on a proper date with a guy other than lan

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

honestly couldn't remember the last time I

surprisingly a

first date, we got dinner at this romantic

dinner, I found out that he was actually a music

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

asked if he could hold my hand

year old guy asking to hold my

Elliott and I went to the Carnavalet Museum and took

to the garden, so the place looked extra

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

kiss that

garden at

just a

I had a feeling I wouldn't forget it

took a

beautiful area with a castle, historical towns, vineyards,

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

asked him if 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 of wine

very smooth