Uncompromising (Age Gap, gxg)

Chapter 1

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A/N - Okay, so let's just get this out there. These works are mine. My poor little brain came up with the plots and characters, and I'd really prefer you to not steal them. If you're reading this on a site that is NOT Wattpad then it is most certainly stolen. No, I really don't want them converted into fanfics or into other languages as well.

Thanks!

Loiosh

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               "Are you sure you don't need anything else?" I asked my daughter, Hollie, after we had just checked out with our purchases at the FSU bookstore. It was her first day on campus, and we'd just moved her into her dorm room. After a quick snack, we'd hit up the bookshop so I could get some newer Florida State gear than the stuff I had from 20 years ago when I was a student there and were finally headed back to drop it off in her new room. Yeah, we got some good things for her too, just to make sure she could show off some school pride.

"Trust me, I have enough!" She held up her bag with a grin. "Are you going to be, okay?"

I'd been fighting tears for the last few hours, and I wasn't hiding it well. Hollie was my first baby headed off to college, and I was sure I'd feel the same way in two years when it was her younger sister Gracie's turn. Honestly, I should have already been on the road home, as I could hear the thunder rumbling off in the distance, and it would just delay the four hour drive home that I had to look forward to.

I stopped on the sidewalk in front of her dorm, and then pulled her into a hug as the late August sun beat down on us. "I'm going to miss you, but I'm so proud of you!" She'd gotten a great scholarship to play softball for FSU, which was always a powerhouse team, and she'd done well in school to make sure she had the grades too. "So, I'll be okay, even if I'm crying. Don't worry about me, I'll just bug Gracie while you're up here. Just concentrate on school, and hopefully your other roommates are as nice as Denique."

Denique was the only roommate in her four bedroom suite that we'd met so far, though we knew there were two more coming. She said she was a business major, and from Jacksonville, but that was all we knew. I was happy that she'd been so friendly when she showed up with her mom, and I hoped it continued. First appearances were important, but the long term chemistry among roomies was going to be harder to keep up.

"I'll be fine too, I promise," she whispered back, though I could hear her voice breaking so I knew she was emotional too. The girls and I were extremely close, since their father was almost never around, and so this really was like losing a daughter and friend at the same time for both of us.

"Call me whenever you want. Call Gracie too, she is going to need her big sister."

"I'm not going to be too far away," she pointed out. "Denique said she has a car, so maybe we can come visit."

"If you ever learned to drive, you'd have a car too," I pointed out with a nudge to her shoulder. She'd tried learning to drive, but those plans got scrapped the previous spring. On one of the rare weekends when my husband, Elliot, was home, he took her for a driving lesson and traumatized her by screaming at every single thing she did, and she hadn't been behind the wheel since. She actually had a car of her own, a used Honda Accord, sitting in the garage back home and just waiting for her to learn.

"I'll get there, mom, I promise." I knew she wanted to learn, so I wasn't going to worry about it. It just might take a little more time.

"I know, I know. I'm just making excuses to keep talking so I don't have to leave."

"Well, you better go." She gestured up at the clouds. "Those don't look too nice, and I know you hate driving in the rain."

I looked up, sighing defeatedly when I realized how right she was. Late afternoon thunderstorms in Florida were extremely common, and I tried not to drive through them. Today though, I didn't have a choice. "Yeah, I know. One more hug!" I pulled her into my arms and squeezed her tightly before she begged for her release. "I'll see you soon."