The first movie I remember falling in love with was Back To The Future. Blew my mind. The premise is simple and touches upon a universal curiosity that can never be fulfilled: what would it be like to go back in time? To meet people you love in a different era? What did they look like, sound like, act like? Sometimes I riff on this fantasy game with my boyfriend in various scenarios. Willing him to magically – briefly and, perhaps, rather indulgently – insert me into his BE (Before Emma) past. It goes a little something like this…

Me: It would have been fun to know you when you were at university; I would have made you make out with me. 

Him: [Pause] You would have been nine. 

Oh, yeah. He’s 10 years older than me. According to internet scripture, this should be the most interesting aspect of our relationship. I mean, I get it, it’s an emotional topic: the numbers game. It arouses equal parts suspicion and intrigue. And unless you’re very much offline (of which I am exceedingly jealous… go forth, be free!), the discourse continues to wage on and on. 

There are the obvious examples: the meme aggregator, Leonardo DiCaprio, and his dating ‘under-25s’ club. Demi Lovato’s viral song, 29, appears to reflect on the 12-year age gap with her ex, actor Wilmer Valderrama (“thought it was a teenage dream, just a fantasy / but was it yours or was it mine? / 17, 29”). Online commentators regularly pontificate that “despite” Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles’ nine-year age gap, they seem, well, pretty happy.