Dear you,

We have been through a lot haven’t we? From break-ups to long days of doing nothing to the tragedy of adolescence, we’ve conquered it all.

Though maybe conquered is the wrong word. Conquered implies that there was a chance we would fail— that we were weak— and that just isn't true. We are built to take the calamity of World War 3 and still remain standing.

Don’t get me wrong, we’re not perfect. You still can never make it to my house on time despite the fact I tell you the wrong time two hours in advance, and I still have the tendency to mother (but my god, would it kill you to organize that notebook? It’s a mess) you a bit, but our flaws are what make us, well, us.

I remember the first day I met you. You were this twig of a person with shaggy blonde hair and a mouth that honest-to-god did not know how to stay shut. I hated that about you, but maybe not for the reasons you think (well not all the reasons you think).

I hated how free you were with your attention. It seemed like everyone wanted to be your friend and that it all just came so easily to you. I was never as gifted with such a talent, my nose constantly stuck in the pages of a book and too afraid to raise my hand much less attract the attention of the whole class. You were born to attract and, try as I might, I too was sucked into that infuriating charm.

I must say, we made the most interesting pair: one who knew everyone and the girl everyone sort of knew. It would have been laughable if not for the fact that we caught on like a match (almost quite literally).

We went from you and I to those two. Even when we allowed another into our tight-knit duo, in the end it was always the two of us and maybe if this were a different story (like many of our classmates speculated), it would always be the two of us.

You once told me that you taught me how to have fun and joke as I might that you didn’t, in reality you did. A large part of why I am so comfortable in who I am is because of you. You taught me to take risks like running out of a classroom on the last day of school despite the teacher staring right at us or walking around the town late at night and filling the silence with our laughs. You took me out of my shell and I am forever grateful.

Yet, the best thing about you is that you took me out of my shell without forcing me to be who I wasn’t. Even today, I am still the quiet kid in class with her nose stuck in a book, but now I know I can put the book down and you will always be there.

At the same time, you are not this constant presence in my life. We are prone to go weeks if not months without a single word to each other, especially now that we are separated by miles of highway and schedules that rarely line up.

But when we come together on those rare moments? It’s like we never left. The days fade away to seconds and the seconds to a blink of an eye and suddenly it is like we were never apart.

So yeah, maybe it will not always be me and you, but you will always have me and I hope to always have you.

Platonically yours,

Me

Ps. Did I tell you I love you? Because I do if that wasn’t clear.