I remember when I was a kid, Mom used to tell me to make friends, not just friends though, but “true” friends. From what I learned from her, she said friend(s) is/are one of the biggest parts of every human life. I never played with my mom's words so I acted upon her advice and till today, I'm actually a better person with true friends influencing my life positively.
Distance is a valid factor of every relationship. I have this one friend, Etima who I met right from Primary school and guess what, we've been together as friends, graduated together from the same Primary and High school and we are also in the same Tertiary Institution. We've been close friends for about 15 years now and he's definitely among the people I'd boldly call a “loved one,” a close friend.
It was so sad that Etima had issues with processing his admission into the Tertiary Institution and that made him miss that batch. I was lucky I made it. Just a few months earlier, Etima successfully processed his admission and matriculated. On his matriculation day, I surprised him by giving up some school activities to show up at his matriculation ceremony. He was so happy to see me there even when he least expected me.
Etima and I are far from home. On that matriculation day, he didn't have any family members who showed up but he had one “loved one”, his close friend who showed up, and that's me. I served as his cameraman while he took photos with his colleagues. I also took some photos with him before leaving the ceremony ground. I asked him where he planned to go after the ceremony and he said, “My bro, I didn't have much plans though, but as you've shown up, I think today's gonna be memorable for me.”
After we're done taking pictures till the phone storage was almost full, we ordered a cab which took us to an eatery where the whole enjoyment began. When we got to the eatery, we were so conscious of one thing, going bankrupt, lol. We saw different types of food and protein which made us salivate but within us, we knew we couldn't afford them so we kept on pushing in the saliva.
After standing and wasting the waiter's time asking her for the price of each food, we finally saw one which matched our pockets. We ordered jollof rice and chicken. Sadly they didn't give us free water, we still had to pay for water. This alone was a red flag for me and gave me a reason never to hang out any other time.
While we took the food to our seats, we first took photos of the food to show off on our social media profiles which is a normal thing (trying to live a fake life, lol). After snapping and posting with captivating captions, we descended on the food trying to satisfy our hunger. While eating, we engaged in a talking session trying to remind ourselves of those days in primary school when we served as sports and class reps, reminding ourselves of girls we used to crush on. It was definitely a day I'll never forget.
After spending some time with him at the eatery, it was already late evening. I had to leave for my hostel. I could feel the joy in him as he was so proud to have a true friend like me. For him, he defined a true friend as “one who would always be there when you least expected.” For me, I didn't really know how much that meant to him but I knew he was super excited to have me make his day.
That day was definitely an unforgettable one because we made memories that can't be erased.
Thanks for stopping by friends!
This remains my entry for the #neoxianprompts. To know more about the Neoxian City Writing Prompt #32, check it out HERE.
I would love to invite 
All images are mine.
