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on friendship.

Friendship

The step above acquaintanceship. The step below a romantic relationship. But exactly how do you define it?

I seem to be the only person really concerned with its definition. Compared to everyone else, I have a super-strict definition of friendship. Everyone else just kind of looks at anyone they talk to every once in a while and says, “Oh yeah, we’re buddies!” For me…it doesn’t really work that way.

Call me a nut, but I have the people in my life strictly organized into the three categories described above. People tell me I have a lot of friends. I don’t. I have tons of friendly acquaintances, and a few friends. I’m not that social of a person, so this style of organization has been pretty easy to keep up…until now.

You have to work hard to be my friend. I make sure that I only befriend people who truly want to befriend me. In my brain is a staircase with five steps: acquaintanceship, friendship, best friends, relationship, marriage. And in no case is anyone allowed to skip a step.

Now everything’s all screwed up. People are running all up and down my steps and I don’t know what to do. I’m getting more outgoing and meeting millions of new people, and somehow they skip right into my friend step, or even my relationship step.