My cousin (18) has caught the attention of a 28 year old and asks for my opinion, I'm conflicted.
This is my first time ever writing a reddit story but I love watching people read them so I know how to construct one lol.
My cousin, also my best friend, is 18 and turns 19 in a few months. She has had previous relationships, one with a slightly older guy who SAed her and also cheated, and one with someone similar in age who went to her school and also SAed her and was abusive, so she has had very bad experiences and so far has never been in a healthy relationship or ever even went on an actual date (these guys strung her along easily without any proper dates etc.)
Now there's this guy (28) at the place where she has an internship who asked her out on a date, they went to a fancy restaurant and he picked up the bill without question. From her stories he seems nice, he has respected her boundaries and didn't show any immaturity so far unlike the previous guys (my cousin is very open about conversations regarding period pain etc and has admitted she has talked about that in detail with the guy already and he showed compassion instead of disgust etc, which is in my opinion the bare minimum.)
These past weeks its been getting more serious and she admitted to me that she really has a crush on him. She showed me pictures of him and he's not ugly but he definitely looks his age which is a lot older than her... I told her to put it into perspective, a 17 year old (my age) wouldn't date a 7 year old, the age gap is 10 years just like her and that guy. And yeah, maybe if they were 40 and 50 the age gap wouldn't be that important but she's barely legal, hasn't had much life experience yet compared to someone his age, and I question his intentions and why he doesn't find people his own age. But maybe I'm prejudiced.
So if you're reading this, what advice should I give my cousin? She finds my opinion really important and wants my blessing if she ever does date him.