Don't Stand So Close (completed)

Chapter 25*

This is the final chapter, loves! Xoxo

12k words

Graduating college feels a little like being set free into world. I'm not sure where I'll land exactly but I do have a nice foundation to figure it all out. The support of my friends and family means everything to me. Harry was at the graduation cheering me and Starla on. It was one of the first times that I ever felt like our age difference was so evident while we'd been a couple. Because he was there for his daughter, and he was supporting me as well.

After the ceremony we all went to dinner together. My parents and I, Starla and Harry, and Paul and his little sister and parents. Angela didn't want to come to the dinner, mostly because she felt embarrassed by the way she acted the last time she saw me and my parents. She's better these days. Rich really threw her for loop and she didn't quite know how to cope with his cheating on her. She wrote an apology letter to me and my parents and patched things up with Harry and Starla.

At the dinner, Starla and Paul announced that they'd be moving in together and everyone seemed so happy about it, congratulating them on taking the next step. Part of me wanted to chime in about how I'm moving in with Harry so I could bask in the excitement of steady relationships and commitments too, but I held back. As much as everyone seems to be okay with my relationship with Harry, there is still a small bit of hesitance as well. I didn't want to see forced smiles on those I love and wonder if they really mean it or not. My ring did get a few compliments, though.

After dinner Harry and I went back to his place. Well, he's insisted I call it our place now. I've been slowly moving my things to the house. I don't have much since the dorm rooms I've stayed in throughout college were mostly furnished (well, the big furniture anyway). I have a good collection of books and clothes, and random stuff, but it's all mostly been moved to Harry's already. This weekend we'll have one last load to bring to his and that will be it. It will be official. We'll be living together and then we'll finally be able to be together everyday for good.

"God I feel so old. Watching my daughter and my fiancé graduate college. Fuck." Harry laughs at his comment but I know there's truth to it. I felt it too. Not the part where he seems old, just the age difference. We're on different timelines, yet somehow, we've made this work and combined our lives and it's been extraordinary. I wouldn't want anything else but I can't lie and say I didn't notice how it made me feel. It's a sort of eye-opening event. Not in a bad way.

I slide my hands up to Harry's shoulders and he wraps his hands around my waist and dips to kiss me.

"You're a young spring chicken as far as I'm concerned." I smile into the kiss and tease him with a laugh.

Harry's chuckle vibrates over my lips and he breaks away from the kiss with a big dimpled smile, "I'm not. But you on the other hand..." he lowers his hands and squeezes suggestively at my bottom and we both laugh again, "are. Does it ever bother you? Be honest."

I sigh. He's been asking me a lot about this lately. Like he's really trying to make me see the truth of our situation, as if I haven't seen it before. But it the frequency of his comments as of late is concerning.

Shaking my head I place my hands behind his neck and clasp my fingers together and look up at him, "It really doesn't. You keep asking me about this and I can't tell you how much it just doesn't bother me. Like, not at all. Okay? Are you bothered by it?"

Harry pauses for a moment and the smile he wore slowly fades from his expression. I watch him blink a couple of times and look over my face and then back to my eyes, "Sometimes. But not because I don't think we make a great match, but because I'm worried I'm gonna drag you down. I just want to make sure you really know what you're getting into. I th..."