i don't really know what the word 'friend' means. but i do know that i don't want to like someone or be indebted to a friend because of his/her availability in times of my need. just like it is difficult to describe 'love' for you partner in words so is it impossible to try to explain why we want to spend time with some people. and why, much before one decides consciously, that decision is made by the chemistry between two people.

there are people you learn to get along with. those that you learn to tolerate. others that you admire right from the first glance, sometimes for inexplicable reasons. but i'm talking about those that in the very first meeting you genuinely and deeply like and are attracted to in an innocuous manner. also such an attraction is inadvertently also sexual in its mildest form because it does not arise between people of the same sex, or between homosexuals of the opposite sex. and it is this attraction that is the subject here. it is the basis of a rare treasuring of the acquaintance. it is the beginning of a platonic relationship between heterosexual members of the opposite sex.

the attraction despite itself argues against itself. argues to keep the relationship innocent of sex. that word is abhorred in some such relationships because it would kill the magic that exists between such two people. and the success of this 'friendship' depends on how successfully both silently acknowledge the attraction and agree with this.

and that depends (like this 'friend' of mine hit the nail on the head, with this observation), not on what's shared or not between these two people; but what's shared between each of them and their respective partners in life. how strong their bonds are with their partners, determines how well they handle magic with other people.