Paper Trail

My dorm roommate seemed like a good match for me. We had similar tastes in music and movies and sense of humor. We shared appliances (by that I mean she used mine) and she volunteered her wardrobe for borrowing. Then, slowly but surely, I noticed some cold shoulder tension. I don’t subscribe to the belief that it is better to live in silence than suffer an awkward, confrontational moment. My attributes don’t exactly fit-in in Southern California. I tried to be as nice as possible, but eventually it became unbearable. I talked to our suitemates and they weren’t forthcoming with any insight. I asked if they could join me in talking with her to help mediate the situation. They agreed, but when the time came, my suitemates were nowhere to be found. I discovered later that they thought it would be too uncomfortable so they warned her about it and fled.

I knew I needed to get it over with, so I asked her if we could talk. She proceeded with verbal diarrhea of all the things she hated about me. Apparently, she had hated me from the start.  All the concessions she had said were fine, but me staying up late, the day my boyfriend had put his suitcase on her side of the room, every Advil she had ever given me, those weren’t fine. Also, she never took out the trash because she wanted to see how long it would take me to do so (I had my own trash can) and she had been placing pieces of paper on the floor to see if I would pick them up. She was offended that I had tried to participate in conversations when her boyfriend was over and she couldn’t stand that I ate fatty foods. Finally, came her complaint that I’m the person who answers honestly when asked, “Do I look fat in this?” She explained that you’re supposed to say “No” and then stroke their ego with a complement.

I was upset, mostly because I was realizing that I was not going to be able to patch it up with her, but I was trying to listen patiently.  I fought back complaining about all of her annoying habits and simply asked why she had lied to me for so long. That was it. She exploded with anger at my accusing her of being a liar and starting screaming obscenities at me. Those were the last words we spoke to each other.