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

bar not too far from my apartment

online dating that I quickly learned was that people were not what

seemed like a genuine guy on the phone, but as soon as we met that night, all he wanted to

say, it wasn’t

this date thinking that ms nA im his it wouldn’t go this

France famous for?

talking about the French

in France was more than

French people were more than willing to indulge in

that French men

masculine French men in the city, but I was talking

to embrace their feminine side

showing their feminine side

vocal about their love for art

or mushy, they only

my throat did

I don't think

as I pushed Olivier by

looked at me in confusion as I

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

another word, I turned to my heels and

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

in front of the bar, when suddenly a tall guy in messy dirty blonde hair and bright

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

you 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,"

state are you

"Georgia originally,"

from

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

and we laughed at the lameness of

pretty good even

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

to pull away, however,

in the air,

tell me, aside from being drop-dead gorgeous, what do you for a

year of college.I'm on an exchange program,"I said, sounding as casual

mistake.I thought you are a

"Why?"

narrowed my

I look at you,

but

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

one who's made of

"What?"

looking

"Stop!"

rolled my

I can keep going all

what she said,"we both

and we smiled

moment, like we

my Uber pulled up in front of the

my ride, I have

"Wait, before you go,"

saying, "Don’t tell me if you want me to take you out to dinner.Just smile for

funny yet

to respond to that, so I just said,

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

weird meet-up with Olivier at that bar, I hadn't been on a proper date with a guy other than lan

on a date since we mostly

couldn't remember the last time I went out on

a very sweet

our first date, we got dinner at this romantic restaurant by the

found out that he was

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

could hold my

so nice about a twenty five year old guy asking to hold my hand instead of shoving their

date, Elliott and I went to the

was sunset by the time we got to

the day and when I confronted him about it, he calmly responded with, "I keep looking

did kiss that

garden

was just a short, sweet

a feeling I wouldn't forget it

date, we took a

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

tasting in the vineyard and Elliott kept raving about this

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

was very