Friendship: 70 Years In The Making.

Part 2- 2015.

Date: October 4th, 2015.
Time: 10:00 PM.
Location: Seattle, Washington.

Just as I lay my head down to rest, knowing that my phone would light up and blare out the song "Wake Me Up" by Avicii at 6:15 AM for school, my phone lit up for a different reason.

Robert: "I'm sorry...are you awake still?"

My best friend Robert. I had been working my part-time job dishwashing at Denny's all day that I had forgotten to talk to him. Not to mention, he was going through the roughest time of his life. I felt bad, so I bet you could predict what I said next.

Me: "Yeah, what's up?"

Robert: "Things are ugly. Get over here."

Me: "I'm on it."

And again, I bet you can predict what happened next.

I grabbed a sweatshirt and stuffed my feet into my shoes and quietly snuck out of the house, knowing that my parents were either asleep or knowing of my whereabouts and just not caring. I began walking down the street, looking up at all the downtown lights and seeing whatever stars I could see, seeing as I lived in Downtown Seattle. I came to the intersection and went straight, went down and made a left, then went down a little farther, made another right, then I was at Robert's apartment building in the middle of downtown. I went into the alleyway and began climbing up some ladders used for fire escape, then when I got to the appropriate window, hopped in, just how the best friends do in all of the TV shows.

Robert was sitting on the floor in front of his closet, back to the window and must have not noticed me. I quietly walked over and sat down beside him. He had been looking through a box of some old photos and family memorabilia.

Me: "What's up, buttercup?"

Robert: "Stop making me smile. It hurts. Anyway, things have been going bad still. And ya know, combined with going back to hell tomorrow to face another shitty week and it being night time, aka when my stupid brain decides to think, I just needed someone. Oh, and looking at these helps me a lot. Reminds me of the good times."

A certain picture had caught my eye, out of the many that were scattered around in the box. I picked it up to examine it. It was two guys in suits, each of them with a lady in a wedding dress in front of two wedding cakes.

Me: "Yeah well, I'll stay here all night if needed. You know I'm always here for you. Who is this, in the picture?"

Robert: "My great grandpa Robert. Yes, I come from a long line of Roberts. I'm number 5. Anyway, he died in 2002 when I was little, but he was in World War 2 and all that cool stuff. This picture was taken in...the mid 50's maybe? All I know is that it was his wedding, and he had a double wedding with his best friend George."

Me: "Well, how weird. Not only is my great grandpa's name George, but he also had a dual wedding...with his best friend named Robert..."

Robert: "Serious?"

Me: "Yeah, and that looks a lot like him. And from what I've seen, that's identical to every picture I've seen of my great grandma. She died before I was born."

Robert: "But he's still alive?"

Me: "Yeah, 95 years old."

At that point, I had realized I had a picture in my wallet. A picture my great grandpa gave me of him on a rooftop in Bangkok with his friend, taken on an old Polaroid the night before they came home, basically a 70 year old selfie. I pulled the picture out and showed Robert.

Robert: "No...shit..."

Robert began searching through the box again, and pulled out the same exact picture.

Me: "Holy shit, there is a lot of explaining to be done."

But none of it was explained in words, only actions. Actions of true friendship, that are proven to last a lifetime and beyond.