How many friends do you have?
People from work, college, school, neighborhood? Friends on Facebook, followers on Instagram, Twitter? Lost count already?
Wait, don’t rush. Maybe this would help. Or not.
Life begins…
I’m 2 and a half years old. Everyone loves me. My immediate family, extended family, their friends and I don’t understand a single word they are saying even if they think I do.

Living the dream
I’m 5 years old. I’ve already spent about 2 years in school and I’ve been learning alphabets and words. I sit next to a friend. The person behind me is a friend, the person ahead of me is a friend. My teachers, staff, neighbors, their kids. Everyone is a friend. I’m in a dream probably.
I’m a teenage now. Young blood, next generation, future of the world, who the fuck cares! I just wanna have fun. Teasing, name-calling, pranks, physical fights, all that just to be the cool kid in the class. Because why not?

Lesson learned
School’s over. And I realize we aren’t a group of 8 friends anymore. We are 8 different people living 8 different lives. College? Same mess. But this time I was prepared. No more glorious wish of being friends till death do us apart.
Phone beeps, “You have a new message,” and there you go losing a friend.
“1 missed call,” and there you go making a new friend.
“You love books too?”
“No! I haven’t read Harry Potter?”
“Your Instagram is dope!”
“I don’t understand Twitter.”
“I love 12 Angry Men.”
“Emma Stone is better than Emma Watson”

Silly but yes. Friendships happen over your favorite ice-cream flavor, Netflix series, caramel or cheese popcorn. And they break over the same things with the speed you unlock your phone. Fingerprint Scanners are pretty fast these days, not your fault.
“How many friends do I have?”
“I don’t know. Maybe thousand. Maybe none.”
But no, a friend is not an app installed on your phone which you will use till it’s a trend and uninstall it when a new app takes over. Life is too short, too fast, I know, and a friend will stop the time for you. A friend might not pay for the bill after dinner at an expensive restaurant but will come up with a plan to run away from there.

Take some time to talk to them. Don’t keep a count it’s alright. However, find them and go out every once in a while.
