All the struggles of having a long distance BFF

Perhaps by sad coincidence your best friend lives in Barcelona and you live in Birmingham; perhaps they’ve buggered off to St. Andrew’s whilst you’re down in Exeter. Whatever the distance, whatever the reason for your separation – it’s hell, no matter what.

Your chat media will be full of snaps of you in the mirror

Shall I buy this dress? Shall I wear this out tonight? Does this lipstick suit me? What eyeshadow shall I wear with this outfit? Do these shoes look weird? Shall I curl my hair? You can’t step out the door without her approval. A blurry mirror shot must make do as she’s not there to rate or slate your outfit choices in person.

It will also be full of screenshots

Of literally anything – messages from problematic men, memes, photos of dogs. What would life be if not shared with her?

And, maybe, the odd nude

…What? You can’t just send it without her approval – you need her to tell you your ass does look cracking before you forward it to your man of choice. Plus, he wouldn’t appreciate your Boux Avenue underwear like she does.

You’ll get (very) jealous of her new friends

Having ascertained her new ‘best’ (ha) friend’s Facebook details from nothing more than an Instagram tag – you amaze yourself with how creepy you are sometimes – you’ll give the girl a thorough stalk. Who does she think she is, tagging your best friend in memes? Why is your best friend in her cover photo? You add her so as to show her who’s boss, knowing full well she’ll see those snaps of you and your bestie in a school play circa 2003. You were there first, and they’ll never share the bond you have.

You’ll discover you have a weird psychic link

You’ll be sitting there one day, and your BFF will pop into your mind, as she does, because she’s amazing. You’ll open WhatsApp, ready to drop her a standard ‘I miss you :(’ text and lo and behold she’s already typing. ‘I was about to message you, was just thinking about you!!!’ you frantically type. She says she was thinking about you too. Coincidence? I think not.

Her drunk snaps are the best

It’s almost like you’re there with her, as she sends you what is essentially a Snapchat livestream of her night. It’ll start with some makeup shots – eyeliner on fleek as ever – then get messier from there. Soon you’re laughing audibly to yourself as you screenshot a picture of her dribbling down her chin, false eyelash stuck to her cheek, with the caption ‘Drnnnnn’. To anyone else, it’s just a funny photo. To you, it’s art.

Time zones are a nightmare

You think you’re just going to spontaneously call your bestie at 7pm? Think again, it’s 1am where she is now. You need help replying to some fuckboy’s text at 10pm? You’re going to have to go it alone, she’ll definitely be fast asleep by now. Alternatively, you could spam her phone with about fifty million variants on ‘WAKE UP BITCH’, but god it would just be so much easier if she was there with you.

WhatsApp voice notes are lifesavers

As aforementioned, calling can be problematic – either the time difference is an issue, or you’re both just never free at the same time. Enter the WhatsApp voice note: you can hear her voice and rant to your heart’s content, all without the issue of time. Indeed, settling down to a healthy five minute bitch from her, split into seven different voice notes, is probably the highlight of your day.

Tagging each other in memes is an essential

Keeping in touch can get hard, or sometimes neither of you have anything to report. By tagging her in 10+ memes a day on both Facebook and Instagram, she’ll know you’re thinking of her and that you’re alive and well, all without the hassle of a full-blown conversation. Plus no one else gets your own (slightly twisted) sense of humour.

Tagging each other in pictures of dogs is likewise essential

See above.

You can’t borrow her makeup

You let her borrow NARS Laguna, she lets you borrow her MAC lipstick. When you reunite and pool your resources (i.e. both of your frankly ridiculous makeup collections), you both go out looking even more flawless than usual. Plus, she’s the only person honest enough to tell you that that neon green eyeshadow really isn’t working for you and gross enough to personally rub the lipstick off your teeth.

You’ll get jealous when your other friends get visits from their BFFs

It’s alright for some, isn’t it? The distance between Leeds and Manchester isn’t insurmountable by any means. Try Leeds and NYU. A train journey? Ha. Try looking at planes. Have you ever felt the agony of searching up flights that cost over a grand? Have you ever literally considered fucking it all and spending your whole student loan on a one-way ticket to JFK? No, didn’t think so.

Your Instagram will become one big throwback Thursday

You can’t help it if all your best photos are with her. Whether it’s a snap of you two together absolutely slaying or one of those ‘candids’ she took of you that time you went to the beach – she’s the only person willing to put up with you begging ‘take another!’ after about a hundred shots – your Insta will become one big tribute to your missing BFF. Of course she’ll be there – well, there on WhatsApp – ready to help edit the photos before they go up and even more ready to be your first like.

Half of your conversations will be organising hypothetical meet-ups

I could get this train? Or shall I get the bus? It’s £40 for the train – I’ll get the bus – shall I come in the morning? We can spend the whole day together then! When’s the earliest I can come? I can get up really early? Can you meet me at the station? What shall I bring? Can I borrow toothpaste?

Then you’ll finally get together, and…

It’ll be like nothing’s changed. You probably won’t go crazy or do anything particularly special, but climbing into bed with your BFF, some nachos, and a Blackadder box set is your idea of heaven anyway.