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.

eyes, and we bonded over our love of

at this bar not too far from my apartment

thing about online dating that I quickly learned

looked nice in his pictures and he seemed like a genuine guy on the phone, but as soon as we met

it

into this date thinking that ms nA im his it

what is France famous for? No, not the French

was talking about

in France was more

like an art form, and French people were

that French men were

in the city,

embrace their feminine side more openly than guys in

showing their feminine side were

were more vocal about their love for

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

down my throat did

sorry, I don't think this

I pushed

looked at me in confusion as I gathered

"Something wrong?"he asked.

don’t even know where to begin.I smiled politely at

to my heels and walked out

feel like walking home alone, so I

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

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

some of this,"he lent out a pack of cigarettes to me, and

good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

are you

"Georgia originally,"

thought you're from

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

laughed at the

English was pretty good even though his accent

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

Jacques,"he put his hand out to me and I took

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

tension in the

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

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

mistake.I thought you are

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes at

look at you, everyone

couldn’t help but laugh

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

You're the one who's made of

"What?"

looking Gouda tonight!"he

"Stop!"

my eyes at

I can keep going all night

said,"we both said this joke in

and we smiled appreciatively at each other’s

weird moment, like we both somehow clicked

up in front of the bar

I

"Wait, before you go,"

me to take you out to dinner.Just smile for yes or kick me in the nuts for

funny

to respond to that, so I just said,

of that night, I did agree on getting dinner

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

going on a

remember the last time I went

was surprisingly a

got dinner at this romantic restaurant by

out

walk along the river after dinner and we talked about everything from music to our existential

could hold my hand and I let

nice about a twenty five year old guy asking to hold my hand instead

second date, Elliott and I went to the Carnavalet Museum

by the time we got to the garden,

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 that

garden

was just a short, sweet

had a feeling I wouldn't forget it that

date, we took a day

a

did a wine tasting in the vineyard and Elliott kept

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

very