warning: the following story might not make a lot of sense. it’s rather long, complicated, and hardly exciting. nonetheless, it’s something that has upset me over the past few days, and i feel as if it would do me some good to gather my thoughts and write it out.
* * *at the end of the last academic year, i got a frantic call in the middle of the night from a friend of mine from university. [let's call her ... eleanor.] okay, so eleanor calls. she sounds desperate, and i can tell from her voice that she has been crying. she tells me between rapid gasps that our other friend, her roommate [let's call her lucy] has 'betrayed' her.
"whoa. calm down. what has lucy done to betray you?" keep in mind that lucy is an incredibly considerate girl, one of my best friends at university.
eleanor manages to convey, between her ragged gasps, that lucy has decided to ditch her. lucy has decided to become a residential advisor, so that means she, eleanor does not have a roommate for next year. how could lucy do this? she's so inconsiderate. you just don't do that to a friend, do you?
"eleanor, calm down. she just wants to be an RA. i thought lucy told you about this. she's been talking about it for the whole year."
but eleanor is frantic. she continues to berate lucy and it's a while before i can calm her down. she then asks me to be her roommate. i tell her that 'sadie' and i [another of our friends] have been planning on rooming together since freshman year. plus, i’m a bit hesitant about rooming with eleanor. out of our entire group of friends, i’m the least close with her, but eleanor pleads and begs.
"well, i don't want you to be without a roommate. i'll call sadie and we'll work it out. don't worry."
within the next twenty four hours, everything has been straightened out. sadie was more than understanding and decided to stay with her current roommate so that i could room with eleanor. sure, it was a hassle, and we had to inform housing of our change of plans at the last moment, but it was worth it to help out a friend.
but eleanor remained exceedingly angry with lucy, accusing her of being inconsiderate and cut-throat. lucy tried to explain that she needed the RA position. it would allow her to save up to $4,000 dollars a year, money that could really ease the financial burden on her family. eleanor simply gave her the cold shoulder.
of course at the last moment i decided to take another semester off from university, so luckily enough, eleanor has a large double room all to herself for the semester. when i told her of my change in plans, she did not give me even one moment’s consolation over the phone, but instead promptly rushed of to “get more stuff.” i guess this was a warning sign of the events that were to come.
* * *fast forward to the present. i’m checking my e-mail one afternoon and notice that eleanor has sent me an e-mail from school. i click on it and read the message. my jaw drops as my eyes travel down the screen. in a few paragraphs, eleanor explains that she “was not sure” if i would be returning to school the following semester [which i most certainly am], and she did not want to chance having a “random” roommate. so, she spoke with a friend, who has a friend, who is study abroad and returning the following semester. eleanor will be rooming with her instead. sorry.
hmm. all i have to say is - wow. to think that i went out of my way to accommodate this girl. to think that sadie and i changed our plans so that eleanor could be comfortable. to think that eleanor gave lucy such a hard time for taking a position as a residential advisor. wow.
i guess this is a reflection on eleanor’s character. of course it is. and sure, after learning more about her, i wouldn’t be too excited to share a room with her anyway, but that’s not the point. the point is now i could be placed anywhere on campus with anyone. in fact, i might even be kicked off campus and forced to live in a secluded university apartment. the point is, after so long away from school, i would like to be close to my good friends. ‘sadie’ and ‘lucy’ and ‘rocky’ and ‘teddy’ and ‘julia.’ [i know, nice pseudonyms, right?] the point is, i went out on a limb for this girl, and all she could do was think about herself.
wow. just wow.
what do you think, cheetahs? was she inconsiderate? yay or nay? do i have the right to be even a bit upset? does this even make an ounce of sense at all?
last one || next one
