Our trip back from New Bern went fairly smoothly, and Bobby even agreed to let me drive us a long way out of the way in order to see some decorative windmills off a country road near Wilson. They were so ornate and beautiful, and I enjoyed every minute we spent there.
Things were basically normal back home, and we decided a few weeks in to have another one of our all night movie nights again like we have done since childhood. We picked up chips, pizza rolls, some drinks, and popcorn.
His living room had a couch on both sides with a TV at the end with a coffee table down the middle. So we loaded up the coffee table with everything we needed minus the drinks in the fridge, and decided to lounge on the couches like beds in our PJs and pig out while rewatching a bunch of old movies we've been watching for years.
During the movies we talked and cut up a lot, but I always kept finding myself looking over at Bobby. He was such a charismatic guy, and just very genuine as a person. It was hard not to want to pay attention to him.
That night though, something was very different.
Usually when we had these nights it was always more direct with one another and actually face each other when we were cutting up. I mean, we've seen the movies a thousand times, so we didn't typically just stare at the screen when we chatted.
Eventually I'd had enough and I just asked "What's up bruh?"
He just turned his head and said "What do you mean?"
He had barely moved, still laying down and scrunched up with his knees bent. He had only turned his head towards me, so I asked "Are you tired or something? Cause you're just laying there like it's bedtime and we're supposed to stay up." And this made him shift so he could sit up, and as he did there was a flash of light from his lap, and I went in for it with "ARE YOU ON YOUR PHONE?"
"No, I was just checking my messages" he said.
I shrugged it off at first and got up to go grab another drink from the kitchen, but on my way I asked "Do you want another one?" as I shook the can.
"Yeah bro, if you don't mind" he said as I grabbed his empty can to carry to the trash. Something still seemed kind of off because he'd usually talk to me while I was grabbing stuff and tonight he was silent.
As I was grabbing the drinks I noticed we had some salsa in the fridge so I called out to see if he wanted salsa and got no response. I tried it at least twice and got nothing, so not wanting a second trip I walked over to the door to the living room to ask him where he could hear me since the movie was still playing.
When I leaned through the doorway I saw his phone. He was looking at a photo of someone's wet crotch, and it looked like they had wet themselves. But soon I noticed something that froze me in my tracks.
In the photo was something very familiar.