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

agreed to meet at this bar not too far from my apartment

online dating that I quickly learned

phone, but as soon as we met that night, all he wanted to do was to shove his tongue down my

it wasn’t a great

date thinking that

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

talking about the French

France was more

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

noticed that French

were masculine French men in the city, but I

to embrace their feminine side more

showing their feminine side were often

more vocal about their love for art and

didn’t care about being too forward or

tongue down my throat did not scream romance

okay, no, sorry, I

said as I pushed Olivier by

at me in confusion as I gathered my purse

"Something wrong?"he asked.

even know where to begin.I smiled politely at him and said, "Sorry,

turned to my heels

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

when suddenly a tall guy

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

you could use some of this,"he lent out a pack of

good,

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

are you

"Georgia originally,"

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

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

and we laughed at

English was pretty good

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

put his

I was about to pull away, however, he

tension in

drop-dead gorgeous, what do

my third year of college.I'm on an exchange program,"I said,

thought you

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes

every time I look at you, everyone

help but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

the one who's

"What?"

looking Gouda

"Stop!"

rolled my eyes at

keep going all

said,"we both

again and we

a weird moment, like

pulled up in front of the

I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

tell me if you want me to take you out to dinner.Just smile

funny yet

how to respond to that, so I just said,

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

with Olivier at that bar, I hadn't been on

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

time

a

our first date, we got dinner at this romantic

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

along the river after dinner

hold my hand and

a twenty five year old guy asking to

I went to the Carnavalet Museum and took a walk around the

to

noticed he was looking at my face a lot throughout the day and when I confronted him about it, he calmly responded

kiss

garden at

was just a short, sweet

a feeling I wouldn't

our third date, we took a

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

in the vineyard and Elliott kept raving about this glass

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

very smooth with