Once you get your license, you’ve got friends. And not only do you have friends, but you have plans. Everyone and their license-less brother suddenly thinks it would be a great idea for you to come pick them up in that distant neighborhood they live in and take them to that ice cream place down in Plano, or that restaurant in McKinney.

It is never the undeniably close friends, never a proximate location, never convenient. However, those eager mere acquaintances should not take it too personally when those of us who do have our licenses make “excuses” not to pick them up.  So to those car-less and distant friends, I offer a breakdown of driver-lingo and the underlying meaning of the excuses we give.

What we say: “Sorry I’ve already made plans!”

What we really mean: “No.”

Honestly, when I got my license I was excited to be able to go wherever I wanted, when I wanted. Not wherever that person I used to be really close to two years ago wants me to go, because “we need to start hanging out again!” Just because I have my license doesn’t mean I am a chauffer or a ticket to a social life. Better luck next time, person I have not seen in years.

What we say: “I don’t want to waste my gas.”

What we really mean: “I don’t want to waste my gas.”

There’s not a lot of beating around the bush with this one. Gas is expensive. Consequently, the age you start having to pay for your own gas, your parents usually start making you pay for other things too, if they haven’t already. So this one is pretty self-explanatory, and stinginess applies.

What we say: “I’m only allowed to have one person in my car at a time!”

What we really mean: Well, it depends.

Now this is a tricky one, because it’s true—at least for those of us in the first year of our licenses, anyway. It could be an excuse, or it could be straight up obeying the law. Either way, don’t plan on being picked up.

Now that I am on the other, license-wielding side of things, I have endless thanks to those close friends who drove me around or picked me up when I couldn’t drive. I was never as appreciative of those who drove me places than I am now, when I understand the hassle it can be at times. I would return the favor in a heartbeat. But to the distant friends who use their old friend’s new license to ask for a ride somewhere, but mask it with the opportunity for a “reunion,” better luck next time. I use my freedom, and my gas, sparingly.