I have this friend, Steve. He's my best friend in the whole wide world. Sometimes, he's a friend-with-benefits. Not sexual benefits, because I'm not that kind of girl, but he'll be my date to school dances and he'll walk me to my door and kiss me goodnight if we've been chilling together. Benefits like he'll stick up for me if someone were to pick a fight with me, or he'll put his jacket over my shoulders if I'm cold, or he'll hold me in his arms if I just got dumped and wipe my tears while I cry. Sometimes, he's like a brother. We'll spend hours joking around about absolutely nothing and just having a good time. He'll play big-brother and disapprove of my boyfriends or I'll play big-sister and help him bring his grades up to par. My mom loves him and his mom loves me. I guess we're like step-siblings. All the benefits of sibling-hood plus the advantage of not being related to each other.

Steve calls me sometimes, just when I need it the most, to make sure I had a good day, even if he's supposed to be in rehearsal for a show opening that week and the director is in a bad mood. He's just that kind of best friend.