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.

beautiful eyes, and we bonded over our love of Harry

bar not too

about online dating that I quickly learned

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

say, it wasn’t a great

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

France famous for? No,

about

in France was more than an

was like an art form, and French people were more than willing to indulge in them in

French

masculine French men in the city, but I was talking

feminine side

men showing their feminine side were often

vocal about their love for art and

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

my throat did not scream romance

I don't think this gonna

said as I pushed

in confusion as I

"Something wrong?"he asked.

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

another word, I turned to my heels and

didn’t feel like walking home alone, so I decided

when suddenly a

"Tough night, eh?"he greeted.

"Excuse me?"

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

good, thank

"You are an American?"

"Yes,"

state are you

"Georgia originally,"

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

"Only ten I see?"

I laughed drily.

we laughed at the lameness of that pick-up

guy, his English was pretty good even though his accent

"What's your name?"he asked.

"Emma,"

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

was about to pull away, however, he

tension in the air,

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

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

mistake.I thought you are

"Why?"

narrowed my eyes

look at you, everyone

help but laugh a

"Are you always this...cheesy?"

the one who's

"What?"

looking

"Stop!"

my eyes

can keep going all

both said this joke

we

moment, like we both

up in front of the bar and I took a step

ride, I have to

"Wait, before you go,"

you want me to take you out

was funny

to respond to that, so I

agree on getting dinner with him and he did

with Olivier at that bar, I hadn't been on a proper date with a guy other than lan since I was

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

remember the last time I went out

was surprisingly a

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

dinner, I found out that he was actually

Anyway, we took a walk along the river after dinner and we talked about everything from music

he could hold my hand and I let

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

our second date, Elliott and I went to the Carnavalet Museum and took a walk

the time we got to the garden,

it, he calmly responded with, "I keep looking at your because it’s so beautiful and I want to kiss

kiss

the garden

a

I wouldn't forget it that

took a day trip

a castle, historical

Elliott kept raving about this glass of

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

was very smooth with