Beyond Best Friends

By Meghna

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I want to introduce the topic of soulmates in friendships. Now,everyone is probably thinking how amazing their friends are and that they are all the best. But it’s always the little things that start to scab at us, and slowly you see the side that they were trying to hide. 

In the novel “This Time it’s Real” by Ann Liang, the protagonist experiences the heartache of drifting apart from her once-dear friend Zoe. A seemingly minor act of renaming a playlist marks the beginning of their estrangement, highlighting the fragility of friendships and the weight of even the smallest gestures.

Soulmate friendships are once in a lifetime. They are the friendships that always stay,till the end. No matter the distance, the time. is the second chance trope done, right. 

As you slowly start to believe that you have no one, this friend is the one holding you when you’re crying, the one laughing with you when you tell a joke, but what is more is that this person is always there for you no matter what.

This goes beyond the category of best friends. Best friends are a position that people now give around to any friend that they’ve had but do you know if these people have your back? Because I personally feel that the “best friend” term is now meaningless and used for anyone and everyone. 

Still, the term “best friends” is something I would use with all of my closest friends, with people who hold my hair back when I’m throwing up, with people who make me soup when I’m sick, with people who constantly fight for me. They are my best friends.

But the rank of soulmate seems even higher in my mind, someone who relentlessly is on my side, constantly waiting and making sure that I am all right. Although “best friends" is a wonderful term, I would like to meet that shining soulmate.hat “once in a lifetime person” whose main goal is to be there for me and my main goal is to be there for them. Someone who if I put in effort, they will put double that, I will put triple their effort, and we keep going back-and-forth until we reach infinity. That’s how deep our 
relationship would be.

While soulmates are usually reserved for a significant other,I would like to use the soulmate term for my best friend, my friend who’s always been there for me, my friend who carries me on her back when I’m crying, my friend, who I put equal energy into maintaining and growing our relationship. 

Because when we are soulmate friends, there’s no stabbing each other’s backs. There’s only stabbing each other‘s hearts, because anything this person does to ruin our friendship breaks my heart. That’s the type of relationship I want. ​