The Boys and Girls Club

I was about 24, and was moving back to New York from Virginia. A girlfriend from college called and said she too wanted to move to the city and asked if I would be her roommate. I agreed and gave notice that I would be moving in a couple months to both my landlord and my boss. Come to find out, she had “forgotten” that I said yes and had asked two other guy friends (age 19 and 22) from her hometown to move in. They found a four bedroom place in Queens and I packed everything I owned. The boys were on one side in two rooms, then there was the kitchen, then a massive bedroom (big enough for a queen, a full drum kit, a keyboard and a couple dressers) and off of that, my room. I had to walk through her room to get to mine, so I’m pretty sure it was supposed to be her walk in closet. It was 7ft x 12ft, I could barely fit my bed inside and there was no closet. I was cramming an apartment full of furniture, plus my cat (who one of the guys was allergic too and who had to stay in that tiny room all the time) into this teeny space.

My girlfriend basically ditched me for her new work friends, the 19 year old would get drunk on a nightly basis (and pass out on the only toilet we had, after making the bathroom smell suspiciously like a nuclear waste site) and the 22 year old decided to become a hardcore DJ and blasted “noise” eight hours a day. None of them ever cleaned the common area and my one girlfriend would actually sit on the recliner and watch me do everyone else’s dishes. I ended up leaving less than six months after moving in and even though I had written up a letter (with copies for everyone) saying I would pay rent, but not utilities until they found a new roomie, I still got calls asking for my portion of the electric bill.

I’ve lived alone since then.