Dating for the VERY first time.

TLDR: I doubt there's anyone who's experienced anything like this, but if you started dating later in life, did you feel any judgement? How did your partner help you through your "firsts"? Did they understand?

I have basically had a lump in my throat all night.

I am reading The Series of Unfortunate Events. I am just about to finish Book Nine. From reading this series seven years ago, I know there's a romance in Book Ten. Violet, my favourite character, falls in love. I couldn't wait; I had a quick read of the section describing it, and it is SO [...] sweet.

"This is a very lovely view", Violet said.

"Very lovely indeed", Quigley said... but he was not looking at the view beneath him. He was looking beside him, where Violet Baudelaire was sitting.

Many things have been taken from the Baudelaire orphans, but one thing that is not often discussed is their privacy. They were rarely able to spare a moment for some private time.

So, as Violet and Quigley rest for a few minutes more on a ledge halfway up the frozen waterfall, I will take this opportunity to give them a bit of privacy, by not writing down anything more of what happened between these two friends on that chilly afternoon.

I will tell you that the two young people resumed their climb, and that the afternoon slowly turned to evening and that both Violet and Quigley had small secret smiles on their faces.

That's edited, by the way, full disclosure. I normally hate love stories, but this is literally The Series of Unfortunate Events. She has been through so much before this, and so much is going to happen after this, that I frankly welcome it. It couldn't have happened to a better girl.

What made me upset was, Violet's fourteen... and I'm twenty-six. I'm probably going to be expected to have "grown-up" relationships, when I haven't had the chance to have naive, innocent relationships yet. Not to mention, because of my childhood trauma, I am younger psychologically than I am physically.

I have heard a lot of people say that they will never date someone who's never dated before. "I'm not in a relationship to teach someone how to be in one." Dating someone with no friends is a "huge red flag." So where does that leave me?

It feels like it's not worth trying. I had my chance, when I was growing up, and no-one wanted to know me. Why would they want to know me now that it's 1,000 times more complicated?