1. Your Snapchat fire with them is burning brighter than ever before.
You never see her, so you have to send her at least 10 snapchats a day… Your outfit, the weird clothes your TA is wearing, the hot guy sitting across the room, bathroom selfies, laying in bed being unproductive selfies, pretty pictures of campus, the weather, what you’re eating, and of course, any good/funny incident because even though you’ll talk for hours next time you see her, you don’t want her to miss out on any of the little things. You’re never together, so, not a day goes by that you don’t send her pictures because the only reason you wouldn’t need to snapchat her is because you’d be together.
2. Every time you do something fun, you can’t wait to tell them about it.
Whether it’s cliff jumping at Puffer’s Pond, going to your first Minutemen football game, or going ice skating and falling on your butt 100 times, you cannot wait to tell her about it. Since UMass starts the semester later than other schools, you had to sit and watch your friends post pictures of all their new comrades and the fun things they were doing at school. So, as soon as you got back to the Zoo, you couldn’t wait to dive into the adventures and reciprocate with some fun stories of your own, and who better to tell than your partner in crime?
3. When you need to complain, you turn to them because you know they won’t judge you or think that you’re a downer.
You just met all of these new people and sure, you’re all friends now, but if you spent as much time complaining to them as you’d like to, you’re not so sure they’d stick around. This is precisely why you need a best friend who has known you through thick and thin. You can vent to her about anything, big or small. She knows that you are not in fact a miserable pessimist. That fake smile you wore for the first two weeks of freshman year can only last so long without a little relief. You don’t need a diary because you have her and she comes with you (via your cell phones) wherever you go.
4. You count down the days until the next holiday because you can’t wait to see your family, which obviously includes your BFF.
You know you’re really best friends when she knows your entire family and you know hers. No matter how crazy your relatives may be, you bring her along to as many family events as you can because she’s just as much a part of your family as you are. Grandma and Grandpa hug her right after they hug you. Your aunts buy her the same fuzzy socks they buy you every year for your birthdays and it’s already implied that you’ll be at her house every Christmas Eve for Chinese food. You even buy an extra Pollyanna gift knowing that you’ll need one for her annual game of Secret Santa. And, you no longer hold back during Secret Santa– you’re just as aggressive as her dad is because you WANT those cookies from Holland, so you’ll steal them from Grandma as many times as you have to.
5. When something happens that reminds you of something in high school, you get really excited to tell them because they actually know what/who you’re talking about.
You’re sitting at the Root’s Cafe and you see this guy filling up his coffee and OMG that’s Jake! Oh, wait… nope, it just looks like him. So, what do you do? Clearly you snap a stalker picture, you know, one of those selfies with someone conveniently in the background, and you send it to your BFF. She gets it and understands your excitement because when she see a tall, skinny guy with curly brown hair, she thinks it looks just like Jake too. Of course, you can’t tell any of your college friends about what just happened because you’re seven hours away from home and nobody has any idea who this Jake character is or what he looks like. Even if you showed them a picture of Jake on your phone, they still wouldn’t understand how much you miss him and how awesome it would have been if that guy getting coffee really was him.
6. They still ‘like’ all of your social media photos, especially when you have that annoying number of likes.
Don’t deny it: we all look at how many ‘likes’ we get on everything we post on social media, especially on Instagram. That’s why we all try to wait until that key hour of the night when we anticipate that everyone else will be on their phones so we have the potential to maximize the number of ‘likes’ we get. We all know how annoying it is when you post an awesome picture with a witty caption and two days later it’s stuck at 59 likes. While we shouldn’t really care about other people’s approval, 60 just sounds so much better. So, rather than liking the picture yourself, because that’d just be cheating, you text your bestie to see if she’s noticed your latest post. Within 30 seconds that little banner pops up on the top of your phone that she liked your photo. The day is saved and you can now be fully satisfied with your latest contribution to the addictive chaos that is social media.
7. You are 100% equal in your relationship. You get happy for each other and excited about all the good things, but when something bad happens they’re there for you, even if it can only be over the phone.
You’re about to have an interview for your first study abroad expedition and you’re beyond nervous. As soon as it’s over, you feel like you did really well and you call her to tell her about every single detail. And guess what? She just finished her first collegiate diving meet or got done working on the set of her first play, so she’s got awesome news to share too! Either way, you’re super happy for each other and it doesn’t really matter whose accomplishment is “bigger” because you’re both happy and that’s what really matters. And when the next day isn’t so hot because you ran out of quarters for your laundry, forgot to pick up your mail, and found out you have two exams on the same day next week, she’s still there for you.
8. You always make time for each other, even if it means FaceTiming while doing your laundry.
No matter how busy your day is, you’ll find a time and a place to talk to her. What else is a girl supposed to do in those awkward five minute gaps when your laundry is not quite done yet or you’re waiting for your next class to start? You always have either your phone or your laptop on your person, so you may as well put it to good use. You’ll FaceTime her even if it’s just for 5 minutes because you can always finish the story later tonight when you call her again. Just seeing her face makes you smile and feel a little less lonely because you know that she thinks about you everyday too.
9. You’ve made a deal that if you’re both still single by age 35, you’ll move into a house together and adopt as many dogs as possible.
As much as every girl wants someone to sweep her off her feet and carry her off into the sunset romantically, she also has this secret pact with her best friend that when the hopes of finding love are lost, you will love each other as the sisters you’ve always been and move into the cutest house ever. You’ll never have to worry about looking nice inside the house, nobody will ever judge how much pizza you eat and you’ll never have to worry about the drama that comes with marriage because you’re not actually married. Most importantly, you can adopt as many puppies as you want without being called a creepy cat lady because 1. they’re dogs and 2. you’re not alone in this endeavor to fill your house with as many adorable, loving furballs as you can afford.
10. No matter how long you’re apart, it’s like you never left when you come back together.
We’ve all seen those movies where lovers who have been apart see each other from across the airport and run towards each other in slow motion as the whole world stops around them and they melt into the most romantic embrace you’ve ever seen. Well, forget the romance, you’re dying to run into your best friend’s arms and let out those girly squeals because you’re so happy to see each other. Any amount of time apart is too long and it’s been over three whole months since you’ve seen her! Sure, you’ve been talking everyday since you left each other and video chatting for hours every week, but that won’t stop you from having marathon-style sleepovers during every holiday break, talking until 4 in the morning, and picking up exactly where you left off before. You absolutely love her and no matter who else comes into your life during your time in college, you two tackled childhood, puberty, boys, family catastrophes, prom, graduation, and so much more together. Absolutely nothing in this world could replace all of that and nobody can ever come close to replacing her. Lucky for you two, nobody ever has to.