I assume that this should all be in one query in order to prevent duplicate data in the database. Is this correct?
How do I simplify this code into one Eloquent query?
$user = User::where( 'id', '=', $otherID )->first();
if( $user != null )
{
    if( $user->requestReceived() )
        accept_friend( $otherID );
    else if( !$user->requestSent() )
    {
        $friend = new Friend;
        $friend->user_1= $myID;
        $friend->user_2 = $otherID;
        $friend->accepted = 0;
        $friend->save();
    }
}