Is the age gap between Guy and Gabby weird? He's like 30 something and she's 18 I'm attracted to her but I care about how Guy is perceived by people I don't want them thinking he's a dirty old creep taking advantage of a teenager.
I don't like telling people how they
should feel about these things.. But, the age gap, and society's treatment of it,
is a component of their relationship. In real life, people probably
would look sideways at Gabby and Guy's relationship, and not just due to their ages. On her romance path, Guy himself points out that he doesn't want people to assume he used his connection to the bookstore to coerce or influence a relationship. That looks a little sketchy, right? A guy shows up to invest in the business of a woman who's his age, and winds up dating her daughter?
For her part, Gabby insists that she's a legal adult, and it should be up to her who she wants to date. Guy, being older and (a little) wiser, is being a little more cagey with their relationship. But, there's also a reason that Gabby's main counterpart is Brittani -- who's the same age as her, and has none of these problems. They're both baby-faced, 18/19 years old, living at home with their parent(s).. But, Brittani doesn't have to deal with any of these issues, because she's tall, thick, and stacked. In fact, Brittani has the opposite problem of Gabby -- she's had guys treating her like an adult, way before it was appropriate to do so.
So.. Will you be treated like a creep in the game? Maybe. For a little while. But, I'm a sappy romantic, and wouldn't deny anyone on the Gabby romance path a happy ending. May just take little while to get there. And for what it's worth, Guy and Gabby's relationship is largely based on my own experience of being 32, dating a 20 year-old. So, I'm not judging. But, it is a real minefield in terms of how your respective peers/family will view the whole relationship. Which isn't always fun in real life, but
does make for good storytelling drama.
And I think I've laid out the ages before, but everyone's basically as old as they need to be, for things to make sense and for the drama to be heightened.
Guy, Madison, Isabella.. 35-40ish. Madison started dating Gabby's dad when Gabby was 4. Assuming Gabby's 19 now, and Madison was 20ish at the time they met, that puts Madison in her mid-to-late thirties. Ditto for Isabella, who had Brittani when she was young and unprepared for it.
Nicki, Ashe, Wren, Risa, Carolina, Alex.. 26-31ish. Ashe had enough time to finish her Master's degree, and she's old enough that living with her parents is embarrassing. Alex and Wren had their lives derailed by circumstance, but have been alive long enough to have made adjustments and find new purpose. Carolina's old enough to have an adolescent daughter, and an ex-husband. Nicki's young enough that she's still figuring her shit out, but old enough that she could be accused of living in a state of arrested development, before becoming Guy's assistant.
Gabby, Pepper, Mason, Cassie, Brittani, Viola.. 18-22ish. Viola, Gabby, and Brittani all went to high school together. Viola and Gabby currently take community college courses together. Mason and Pepper are in the older range of the group, where they have some life experience, but are still very much trying to get their feet under them.