A loan between friends needs clearer words than affection alone can provide.

Affection makes people generous and vague at the same time. You trust each other, so you skip the parts that feel cold: the amount, the date, what happens if it slips. Later, when memory disagrees, there is nothing to return to except two versions of a warm conversation. The friendship then carries a weight nobody ever described to it.

Before money changes hands, say the numbers out loud and write them somewhere you both can see. Name a date, and name what you will both do if that date passes. Plain words now cost far less than an awkward silence in six months.