"Oh my gosh, it's a Mary!" Dylan exclaimed from his seat at the bar, surrounded by his fraternity brothers.

"Dylan!" I responded, making my way to him through the group of men at the bar, stopping to hug and kiss each one on the cheek as I passed by. They've learned to accept my affection, or at least tolerate it, "How are you, love?"

He smiled broadly, his wide brown eyes crinkling at the corners with genuine happiness, "Absolutely fantastic, my dear. How are you?" he asked, actually wanting to know the answer.

It was the night before Valentine's Day and I was (am) super single. Instead of getting ready for a romantic weekend, I was dressed in a flannel and a spike necklace, my lipstick as dark as my view on relationships. (Kidding! Sort of!) I looked around at all of my friends gathered for another friend's birthday and grinned, "Great, actually. There are no other people I'd rather be with tonight than you guys."

We all have that one special place at college that we feel right at home. Whether it's the office of your favorite teacher or that one bar where everyone knows you, it just feels like you're supposed to be there. For me, that place is my favorite fraternity: the Beta Theta chapter of Theta Chi.

There are a lot of reasons why people gravitate to certain groups, but here's a list of just some reasons to love and be thankful for your favorite fraternity.

1. You always have a date.

When I was unceremoniously ditched two weeks before my last formal, I panicked. I had already paid for a second ticket, but I had absolutely no prospective dates. After a few hours of stalking Facebook profiles of old flings and briefly contemplating taking one of my cousins, I almost gave up. Then it hit me: I have an entire fraternity to choose from! After chatting up the tallest and best looking of the single ones, I had a date in less than five minutes. We had a great time and the best part was that the guys I wanted to hang out with were the same guys he wanted to hang out with: other Theta Chi brothers.

2. They're real with you.

From the start, my favorite guys have never felt uncomfortable being honest with me. Whatever they have to say, they say it directly to me, rather than behind my back. Whether that's a frank discussion from Brob about how I'm "disappointing everyone" by refusing to take Jägerbombs or a heart to heart with Joe about how we experience the Catholic faith as millennials, no topic is off limits.

Believe me, we have explored every topic from the heartfelt to the downright disgusting and there are no boundaries. Oh, God -- none.

3. There's no pressure to be anything but yourself.

Because they're so real with me, it takes away all the pressure of having to act a certain way for their approval. When all the freshman girls are in heels and mini-skirts, I'm rolling into the house wearing leggings and the same flannel I woke up in this morning. They accept that in any given beer run before a chill night at someone's apartment, they need to get me "girl beer." (A lot of people drink cider, guys! Stop making fun of me. Witwick drinks Vanilla Smirnoff.) I can look the same on a Friday night as I do on a Tuesday morning when I inevitably wake up five minutes before class and someone will still tell me that I look pretty. Or that I look ratchet, but my butt looks good. I can yell the wrong lyrics to "Piano Man" while dancing on a porch bench and not feel self-conscious.

4. Their house feels like home.

Sure, the kitchen is never clean and I do have to wear socks on all the floors and shoes in the shower (which I avoid at all costs). And, yes, they did have the same Ashley Tisdale edition of Maxim for three freaking years until yours truly bought a new Cosmo to stock the second-floor bathroom (I don't care if the first-floor bathroom gets new magazines more often, Nick, I refuse to use the bathroom that strangersuse).And, OK, maybe it does smell like stale beer and boy sweat.

But that absurdly ill-maintained place is still home for me. It's where I feel comfortable and supported and happy. That house is my safe space. When I feel sad, I go there and porch until I feel better. When bad things happen, I've been known to literally run to their house and plop down on a bench crying until they get me a glass of water and we talk it out. It's usually a glass, at least. Sometimes they run out of cups and you have to drink from a bowl, but the sentiment still applies.

I said they were good guys, I never said they weren't also complete messes.

5. They make you laugh.

I'm not joking when I say that this is the freaking weirdest group of misfits that I've ever associated with, in the best way. Be it their nonsensical Facebook page (ThetaChi Drexel), the way they add Theta Chi to the beginning of all activities (Theta Chirobics and Theta Chigyne, for example), or the fact that I've walked in on them having arguments by shouting at each other on the stairs from different floors of the house, they always make me laugh.

Their lankiest brother is nicknamed Twiga mtoto because it's Swahili for baby giraffe and one of their brothers is dubbed "House Rolling-Up-His-Pants-Like-A-Speedo Chairman." I think he gave himself that title, but still, the comedic value is there. I know I'm not correctly conveying their hilarity, but just know that there have been many mornings that I have laughed until I couldn't breathe and then threw up because I was hungover.

6. They take care of you.

Serious note, this house has seen me though some real crap. They don't always have to say it, but the care for me is palpable. It's in the way that Liberati pulls me in for the best, most protective hugs until my anxiety passes. It's there when Edgar puts Neosporin on my scraped knee without judging me for being really clumsy while I sit on the edge of his bathtub at 3 a.m. When Dylan sleeps on his couch because me and Bridget have commandeered his bed (he has satin sheets, can you blame us?), I know it's because he cares. It's there when Nick let's me come along for official house business because I look lonely walking down the street. Every time Will cooks me dinner or Harrison looks me in the eye, critically, and asks if everything is really okay, I feel loved.

7. They make you feel important.

I'm not saying I run the house because I don't. I am, however, a VIP (vaguely important person) of that household. I'm the official snack mom, which means I bring a folding chair and clementines to their sports games when they actually play instead of forfeiting to make other chapters mad. It's cool to walk into a house and know and love all of the people that live there. Plus, it makes you feel really popular at parties.

One of my favorite moments was when a brother introduced me to his friend from freshman year. His exact words were, "This is Mary. She's been around, well..." he scratched his head, cigarette hanging out of one side of his mouth, trying to remember how long I had been coming to the house. "... Well, forever, I guess."

It's true (suck it, Gabe, I was here before you), I have been there forever. Or, at least, since I started college. I spent exactly one term exploring Drexel before I decided in January that Theta Chi was going to be my place. I knew after going there one time that they were my people, and I haven't looked back since.

And when I walked into that bar the night before Valentine's Day, surrounded by the men who have been there through thick and thin, I felt more grateful to them than ever before. Because even though I sometimes get lonely being single, I know I can always turn to the best boys in the world to feel that love and support: my Theta Chis.

Thanks, boys.