Friends are great but great friends are few and far between. Some of us ladies are lucky enough to find a great friend who just so happens to be a pretty cool guy too. Sometimes we hate them, sometimes we swear we'll never talk to them again, but most of the time they're one of the best parts of our lives and we can't imagine living without them. This one is for those girls and those guys. May we never have to survive without them.

#1 He understands your weirdness – past, present, and future

He’s your best friend so needless to say, there’s some history between you. All the unbelievably stupid things you said and did in middle school, and all the times he warned you that you shouldn’t do that thing but it was high school so you did the thing anyway. Fortunately for you, he gets it and most of the time he’s not going to judge you for it. And he loves you anyway

#2 You have a built in date to any event you don’t have (or want) a real date to

Your mom’s office Christmas party? He’s coming. When your boyfriend dumped you three weeks before senior homecoming? He was there. When a bunch of friends are hanging out and you’re the single one? He’s got your back. Guy best friends are just cool like that.

#3 There’s way less drama

I’m not saying boys have no drama but hanging out with him is a lot more low-drama than hanging out with your girl friends, who most likely have a never ending stream of drama. Sometimes you just need a break and having him as a best friend is perfect for that.

#4 There’s always a no pressure environment to chill in.

You can literally be “just one of the guys” for a night. He’s the person you can spend the night watching movies with in a t-shirt and sweats and no one is going to say “let me do your makeup” or “why didn’t we go to a party tonight?” (btw, the answer is because wearing real pants was just too difficult. And he won’t judge you for that.)

#5 He’s pretty great at that whole “tough love” thing

Guy best friends are a lot better at knocking sense into you in a not-so-nice way than girls are. He’s not going to spare your feelings when he knows you’re being stupid, but it’s okay because he knows you well enough to know how not to go too far and in the end you know he’s right and he’s only doing it to help you.

#6 Someone to do stuff your girl friends don’t want to do with.

#7 He puts up with your neediness

What do you mean you’re afraid to double text? I’ll send fourteen texts in a row and every single one of them will be “hey” or “call me” and he still loves me anyway.

#8 You can always get insight into a guy’s perspective

Pretty sure we’ve all been there. “Okay so this guy said this to me. What does this mean?” It’s so nice to have someone around who can explain all the inner workings of a guy’s mind.

#9 You can always get a laugh when people ask if you’re dating

“No, mom, for the nineteenth time this week, we aren’t together and it’s not going to happen any time in the foreseeable future.” Rinse and repeat with most of your other friends. Despite the constant flirting that’s just a built-in part of your friendship, it isn’t going to happen.

#10 You’re basically married

It’s like you skipped straight over dating and into marriage because you’re always nagging each other, constantly make fun of each other’s past, more embarrassing, life experiences, and fight like… well like an old married couple. But after it all you’re pushing each other to be the best versions of yourselves and he can make you laugh when you just want to cry and he knows what’s good for you even when you don’t.

#11 At the end of the day, he’s always going to be there for you

He’ll answer the phone at 3 AM and offer to beat up your ex-boyfriends and drive around with you for hours when you don’t want to go home. After all the crap you put each other through he’s still your best friend and that’s all that really matters.