7 Reasons Why We Really Are ‘Just Friends’

My best guy-friend and I met in grade school. We started out as two kids who had a crush on each other. But nothing ended up happening because I ended up having a ‘thing’ with his then best friend.

Come 6th grade, we fell into the same group of friends and the rest is history. We shared his Skullcandy earphones to listen to his new favorite music, he would help me go to the market to pick up stuff for school activities I was organizing, I would share my snacks and drinks with him, and we would go out before sunrise to check if there were any breakfast places nearby for us and our friends to eat.

Everybody else in high school who didn’t know us personally would always say that it was only a matter of time until we dated, or that there was “something going on.” They weren’t entirely wrong. There was, and still is, something going on:

We’re the best of friends and it truly is something special.

My own family keep on insisting that maybe we’re going to end up together because we’re probably each other’s true love. My brother even once told me that a girl and a boy can never be just friends. I simply beg to differ! So, I give you the 7 reason why my guy best friend and I are just friends and always will be.

1. We started out as each other’s childhood crushes.

It has been said that it’s either you’re attracted to each other and then become just friends, or you’re only friends at first and then become attracted to each other. The boy-girl romantic attraction phase has come and passed, people. And we’re not going back.

2. We’ve been there through each other’s dating lives.

This means that we know what we look for in a partner, and what we need from the person we’re dating. Thus, if we have remained friends for 8 years now, that means we both know we’re not what we’re looking for in a lover.

3. We just don’t see each other taking a ‘romantic’ role in each other’s lives.

Of course it has crossed minds! Of course we’ve thought about what it would be like if we dated each other instead of going through the many fish in the Pacific Ocean! It either makes us cringe, or makes us cringe!

4. We’re practically family.

We know each other’s quirks and habits. We’ve also slept in the same bed just because we trust each other enough like family. We’re just friends because that kind of familiarity with each other doesn’t strike us as something to be giddy about, nor is it a butterfly-in-the-stomach kind of thought.

5. I have no intention of destroying this wonderful friendship that we have.

People refuse to believe that our kind of relationship is platonic, because I admit that it’s not. It’s more special than that. It’s extremely rare to find someone who you know is going to be there for you no matter what, and is not the same sex as you are and is not someone you ever see as a lover.

I am aware of how odd it is to act around each other so comfortably, so that people always think you’re probably dating. And that’s a one in a million event. We simply found each other’s place in our respective lives, and we fit perfectly right where we are.

6. We love each other enough to know it.

Yup. It’s the reason why we’ve been friends for so long.

7. Just because you’re just friends, doesn’t mean it’s any less important than a romantic relationship.

It is ‘love.’ And it’s the kind of love you give to a friend. But it’s nothing less compared to loving someone romantically. It could possibly be more genuine and more true than that. But it’s no less devoted and faithful, so that it stands the test of time. It’s no less real and transparent, so that everyone sees it too. It’s no less powerful in its magnitude, so that there is rarity in its beauty too.

My best guy-friend and I are just friends and will always be because honestly, the thought of being just friends is all that we need.