My ex-“just friend” #10

This is one of the most common situation where a boy and a girl become good friends and their friends start teasing them. And they are like, ” Nah! We’re just friends! “

Sometimes the girl or the guy or both have feelings for the other. And sometimes they are BFFs without falling for each other. Fortunately or unfortunately my life doesn’t obey this cliché.  So I never had to tell this white lie (” We are just friends” ) for a guy. Rather this happened when I happened to meet a girl in my college. There was a really cute girl in my class, I used to call her Sugar. Sugar was one of the most popular girls in my college then. She was the perfect example of beauty with brain. She had amazing social skills. So almost everyone liked her.

Being a selectively social person I never had much interest in Sugar, though I knew she’s a cool girl. Some days I sat next to her, the other days I enjoyed the fights among the other girls to sit next to her. Sugar had a boyfriend, and there were 3-4 guys who were good friends with her. So by that time a group formed around Sugar.

Coincidentally I also sat next to them. Although I was not close to anyone of that group and I didn’t show any interest in their gossips I became a familiar face to them. I was like a neighbour to them be it cool or annoying because you can’t choose your neighbours. Sugar and I were lab partners so we started talking more than before. Slowly I started interacting with her other close friends too. Although I knew everybody’s name but I hardly talked to them before that. Unofficially I became a part of their group and it was solely because of Sugar. I realised that everyone in that group was overly obsessed with her except me. Other guys and girls didn’t consider me as a part of their group but I was okay with that as long as my friendship with Sugar was uninterrupted.

By the end of first year, Sugar fell seriously ill. She was absent from college for about 2 weeks. By that time the group witnessed some dramatic changes. The girl-loves of Sugar drifted apart from the group for some reason that I was not aware. The guys didn’t show up as their main attraction was absent. Sugar had a lot to see after coming to college. Apparently we were the only girls left in the group. Sugar’s boyfriend and the other guys used to play in the free periods so Sugar and I had plenty of time to hang out.

We became good friends by then. She used to share a lot with me. Our dressing was kind of similar. We were always together. Though she had the same type of connection with many people in the class but she was seen mostly with me. Sugar was still the popular girl and people assumed that I was her best friend.

In our so called “group” there was a guy who claimed that Sugar was his best friend though Sugar never showed any sign of agreement or disagreement with the statement. During the whole time I was always by the side of her, witnessing many guys to claim Sugar as their ” best friend “. But Sugar never called anybody her best friend in our class. Her best friend was in a different college. They used to go to the same school from 2nd standard. Neither I considered Sugar as my bff nor did she.

According to me, being best friend is a mutual thing. You may call somebody your best buddy and share everything of your life with him/her. But when you find that the other person is not as much comfortable as you are to share his/her stories with you, the bonding will start to loosen. Sugar was the only girl who knew a lot about me but the converse wasn’t true. Sugar knew how to comfort people to the level so that they share their secrets with her, but I never found anyone who did the same with Sugar.

Many people pointed Sugar as my best friend and I always corrected them saying, ” We are just friends, not BFFs…” . We graduated and parted away. Sugar and I are still connected via social media. My attempts to stay in touch with her ended in immediate regret by her cold response. Certainly we have grown up,or rather I should say that we have “grown apart”.

Thanks for reading. Check out my next blog…