The tickets are purchased on behalf of a ticket broker. The friendship is irrelevant. The broker will record the reimbursement, and use it for their own accounting and tax purposes to establish the cost of goods sold. The broker should send the OP a 1099 to document the payment. We cannot know if this will actually happen, but I would keep good records.
No, the broker will record it as a purchase.
In any event, if OP got audited, the outcome would be a wash.