another age gap topic., sorry guys, i guess i lack originality. Options

[mytangerine]

i know shortnsweet88 posted a topic not too terribly long ago about this, but can you please give me advice anyways? that would be so helpful

the situation isn't entirely the same, since i am 17 & he is 23. we have the most incredible connection and chemistry that i really cannot see myself finding anyone else with that degree of compatibility. we can talk about anything and everything, and physicality is not a focus at all. sure we kiss/makeout, but we talk significantly more than we do that.it is also incredibly apparent that he is not just a jerk that wants some young booty or anything, he is actually legit.

main dilemma;
telling my parents. do i or don't i? i feel horrible for hiding such a major thing like this from them, it seriously kills me. however, just today i told my mom i had gone to dinner with some older college guy friends of mine & some of their friends and she said "i don't know if i feel comfortable with you hanging out with older guys like that" that just kind of killed my hopes that she will actually be okay with it if i were to explain properly. but is hiding it from her longer really going to be better than just letting her know & perhaps dealing with the wrath that might ensue? i really expect to stay with this guy as long as possible, he really is as close to perfect as i have come to finding.

[mytangerine]

we met through mutual friends, i tend to hang out with an older crowd. supposedly i am nothing like any 17 year old girl any of my college guy friends know/met [maturity wise], & that is part of the reason he's not all weirded out by the age gap. [we both used to be real iffy about it, but things have worked so well for us that we've moved past that]. so for the people that are uncertain about his intentions, i'm pretty positive he's not like that. although i won't lie, i know the situation is bizarre & it is not mean or judgemental of you to think that, since i'm sure people would/do.