In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Born to Be With You.”

‘Got a soul-mate and/or a best friend? What is it about that person that you love best? Describe them in great detail — leave no important quality out.’

My best friend is probably my soul mate too – although not in a romantic way, so maybe better called my soul sister. We’re two peas in one odd pod. She’s tall and impossibly slim, I’m short and curvy, she can be ridiculously hyper and takes things to heart, I’m more mellow and don’t let things bother me for too long, she’s been at state schools her whole life, I’ve enjoyed private education for the majority of mine, she’s never seen Friends, I own the box-set and watched it religiously for years on TV. Those are our differences. But they work. It’s like picking your Vice President, you need someone who is everything that you aren’t to make it work. (Sorry, I’ll try not to go all politics student again). Then there are our similarities – we both have a grumpy old woman inside of us (one who can be very loud when a bus is more than 10 minutes late), we silently judge people for the wrongs they do, we both try incredibly hard to do our very best academically (a department in which we are relatively equally matched), we get far too stressed about exams, we’re both fiercely protective of each other and our other friends, we get nervous and giggle and laugh too loud for too long, we always want to dance if there’s music playing, and in millions of other, tiny ways we are the same.

Somewhere along the way we just collided, not in that first English Lit lesson, somewhere else, we didn’t even realise it, but now here we are, our atoms bonded forever by some that strange friendship force – it probably had some help from alcohol, joint classes, secrets and shenanigans, too.

But it’s never that simple, soon we’ll both be leaving, her for Sussex Uni, me for (hopefully) Kent Uni, not too far, but further than we’ve ever been from one another (even when we didn’t know the other existed). And I am determined for her to remain my soul sister, no matter who else I meet who might come somewhere close to that title, she’ll be the original, the main one. Maybe life will get in the way as it has with so many of my friendships, but maybe it won’t, maybe we’ll emerge from university in 3 years time with tonnes of stories of our time there, but also joint ones, those crazy ones that can only happen when you’re with your best friend.