Long-distance friendship is two people agreeing that 11 p.m. for one of you is worth it.

Distance turns friendship into something you have to choose on purpose. When nobody is in the same room by accident, the whole thing runs on somebody being slightly inconvenienced: a late call, an early one, a message typed when you were already half asleep. That small cost is the proof.

If somebody matters and you are not in the same place, put a time in your phone rather than waiting for a free evening to appear. Take the worse slot sometimes instead of always offering it. And when they take the late one for you, say you noticed.