Roommate Cocktail!
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Roommate Cocktail
Roommate Cocktail
By Isie Gallegos
*Copyright 2011 of Isie Gallegos Writings*
The clicking of the pen stopped. After all the noise the pen had been making earlier, the cricket of a pen was now silent.
“Thank God.” I said as I looked over at my roommate Lydia.
Lydia had a pile of drool sipping from the corner of her mouth as she slept silently. The homework under her massive mangle of curly brown hair cried silently for help. The drool threatened to seep into the dry surface that wished to stay dry as much as possible.
It was surprising how Lydia even got her homework done at the last minute without her official ‘drool’ signature, or as some would call it ‘mark’. Did Lydia’s teachers get bothered by this ‘signature mark’ and talk with her about it?
If so, Lydia had never mentioned it. Perhaps she was probably too embarrassed to mention it to me. Either way, it was a mystery to me.
Surely, my teachers would chastise me for anything they could. If my papers were remotely off the perfect scale, than it was red pen central all over the place with little reminders here and there. Perhaps, my teachers thought I was a perfectionist to the point of absolute perfection. I could only wish! I kept hoping they would leave me alone so I could relax for once.
I felt pity for the desk. Not only did it have to support the weight of everything Lydia always put on it, but the desk had to support her flattened face too. The drool was overtaking a part of the desk, threatening the dry paper. Aside from the obvious, her body weight didn’t make matters any easier for the poor, defenseless desk. The desk might break.
I could only imagine how the dorm personnel would take the news if Lydia broke the desk herself. All of her junk scattered itself around every possible inch. The junk would be claiming the desk for themselves if her head didn’t steal some of the space.
A snort eminated from Lydia. It was a loud snort, one that made a gut wrenching sound. I was always tempted to record the scene and place it on YouTube for all to see. Oh, how Lydia would get worked up over this!
I was half tempted to do this especially after all the messes of mass destruction that Lydia let clutter themselves about our small living space of the dorm room. Lydia had claimed the room as her own.
‘Ms. Lydia Clutterbug’ was Lydia’s official name to me. Oh, did she dislike this also! Even though Lydia was embarrassed by the not-so-friendly nickname, she continued her habits of sloth. We are all creatures of habit and even I had habits that I found hard to break.
I had a hard time peeling my eyes off of Lydia’s mangled mess of hair that claimed her head. I could never understand why anyone would let their hair get that tangled. I could never go one day without a shampooing, conditioning and styling.
As many times as I’d offered to help Lydia with her mop of hair, she would grumble under her breathe about me, moving over to her stash of manga and girl magazines. She was a creature of habit as most of us tend to be. She liked to get her ‘read on’.
‘Getting her read on’ was an odd term when taken into consideration. Only an odd person would use a term such as this. Could you guess who this odd person was?
With that thought, a yawn escaped me. The sandman had come and gone, doing his job too efficiently. Now it was time for me to do my job; sleep.
Glancing at my watch, I noted that it was only 9:30 pm. To a college student, it was still particularly early. This wasn’t the case for either Lydia or I.
We both nodded off early since we both had early classes. In order not to be late, I had to be resting soon. The morning light was unyielding when the sun popped up to the wake the dreaming world, robbing us of what extra slumber we could get.
The only way I could make it to the bed was a perilous one. First, I had to note the path visually that I was going to use. It was a chaotic jungle in the room as it was.
Second, I had to physically move all Lydia’s belongings to the side in order to make the path. I had to wonder how someone could own so many things and not take care of them.
On the rare occasion Lydia actually exercised, I had to be well aware of 3 lb. dumbbells that might be hiding in the wait with a vicious vendetta for my unsuspecting toes. Every encounter with those was always painful.
The third piece of the pie was putting on my covers fast enough to get warm. The low temperature that Lydia kept during the summer was always too much for me. After much argument, she finally brought the temperature up a few degrees just to get me off her back. I was thankful for this. It would be unwise for me to move further on bringing the temperature a little warmer. I was lucky she compensated even this much.
I reached my bed, grabbing the soft cover. The soft and fluffy blanket was a welcomed relief to the cold room. I quickly slipped under the sheets and blanket. Just as quickly as the blanket and the sheets had moved, my body slipped under the both of them. The warmth first turned to my feet, moving up my body until I was fully covered with the blanket on top.
With the welcomed warmth, it was now time to rest my eyes and sleep.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
As tired as I was, sleep was not forthcoming. I lay there in my bed staring at the ceiling. It was hard not to go into thought mode while in this tired state of mind.
Ms. Lydia Clutterbugs disastrous encounter with my laptop was the first thought that came to mind. Why did everything always go back to Lydia?
If Ms. Lydia Clutterbug had not broken my laptop the week before, she wouldn’t have agreed to anything. When the laptop was on my bed and I was out on a morning jog, Lydia had decided that she was going to surf the internet on my computer. As illiterate as Lydia was about computers, it didn’t take long for her go accidentally into the setting and play with the unknown ‘toys’. Needless to say, I had arrived home to find a computer that refused to function properly. This didn’t make anything better than Lydia claiming she wasn’t part of the problem.
“Your computer is broken. You should get it fixed.” Lydia informed me while reading one of her girl magazines. She didn’t even take the time to look up at me when she said this.
I looked at Lydia, then back at my computer. “It was working just fine when I’d left.”
Without wasting any time, I made my way over to the computer. Lifting up the lid, I noticed it immediately. An error message that I’d never seen before was blinking on the screen, demanding attention.
The message read; The driver for this device might be corrupted, or your system may be running low on memory or other resources. (Code 3)
Upon seeing this message, I couldn’t help but sigh. I had a paper due tomorrow. This was very bad timing. “You didn’t play with the laptop, did you?” I inquired, moving an eye cautiously Lydia’s way. For now, I would withhold any judgements.
“Why would I play with your broken computer?” Lydia shot back offended. As if she’d touch that insidious laptop. This was probably pure accusation to her.
“Lydia.” I reminded her, sensing she was hiding something. I knew her better than that.
“I only moved it a little.” Lydia finally admitted.
“A little? From the looks of it, and I’m no technician, you’ve played with the settings.” I calmed myself down some, sensing a stress headache coming on. “Do you know how much a technician is going to cost? Two hundred dollars just to get it fixed at the least!”
“You’re exaggerating.” Lydia told me, looking at me with annoyance.
Lydia probably thought I was a drama queen. The fact of the matter is if she didn’t do things to annoy me, there would be no drama at all. It’s almost as if she did these things on purpose to test my patience. I wasn’t going to go into anything else that she did. I could already feel the pounding beginning in my head.
“I have a paper due tomorrow, Lydia.” I explained as calmly as I could. It was sad I had to explain things to her as if she were a child. “All my research was saved on the computer that you just ‘moved a little’. Don’t you have any regard for anyone else’s property?”
Lydia kept reading her magazine. “You shouldn’t buy crappy laptops then.”
Lydia had gone too far this time. This childish act of hers was going to cost me more than just annoyance. I looked at Lydia with one eyebrow raised above the other. This was ridiculous. She was going to get this fixed.
“I spent good money on that laptop. Since you broke it, you’ll pay for the fixing. It’s only fair.” I told her, keeping myself calm as possible. The pounding remained on the left side of my head, making me wish they’d chosen a better roommate for me when they grouped the students together.
“Fair?!” Lydia shot back dramatically. She dropped the magazine she was reading, putting her hands to her sides with her palms exposed. The expression on her face was priceless. If only this had appeared at a different time. “How can fixing YOUR broken CRAP laptop be fair for ME? I’m not rich you know.”
“You should have thought of that BEFORE you ‘moved’ it. Pay your dues.” I scoffed, holding my temper in check. My patience was beginning to wear very thin. I was trying to be considerate and not explode on inconsiderate Lydia.
“My dues are not to you.” Lydia shot back with a pompous tone. “This is my room and this is my stuff. You’re just a guest here.”
“Your room?!” I yelled, no longer able to keep my temper withheld. I couldn’t help the sarcasm that would be flowing like a river as I continued speaking. I was livid now. “As ‘poor’ as you say you are, you should have your own room. You talk big yet you have an inability to get along with anyone but yourself. We SHARE this room but you take no mind to that! You are so selfish!”
Lydia suspected I was upset by the look on her face and the tone in my voice. The smug look that she had once held had melted to a new expression; fear. The color had drained from her face, replaced with a pale shade of white. This white shade she wore would make a ghost jealous. The shade only accentuated her brown eyes that were about to pop out of their sockets.
I took a moment to stand where I was in a vain attempt to calm my breathing. The last thing I needed was to hyperventilate and pass out. With the current situation happening between us, Lydia would leave me for dead without a second thought.
“Don’t be mad.” Lydia told me, trying to sooth my anger. Genuine fear was in her eyes. “I really don’t have the money to fix the laptop. I don’t want to ask my parents for the money either. They’ll kill me!”
“You really mean that they’ll be disappointed, right?” I inquired, working my way down from the anger triangle. It was a tough journey in itself. My head was pounding from the sudden spike in blood pressure. All I wanted to do was lay down with a cold cloth over my eyes. I was also half tempted to take her to court over this. That information on my laptop was vital to the success of my education and future.
Lydia looked at me with genuine worry. Tears were starting to form.
These tears brought me down to earth again. The anger triangle had disappeared completely. Lydia looked so helpless.
“Make it up to me then.” I told Lydia with a sigh. I was going to have to make up for so much research now. The paper was due tomorrow! This was all because of… No. It was time for me to put that behind me. I had a plan.
“Make it up to you?” Lydia inquired with genuine confusion. “I don’t have the money for the repairs. I don’t see how I can do that.”
Smacking my the palm of my hand on my forehead, I bit my tongue gently. I wasn’t going to yell at Lydia anymore today. This was going to be a challenge.
As sympathetic as I was towards Lydia, she always found some way to annoy me. Innocence wasn’t always the easiest thing to deal with. Lydia must have been really sheltered at home. It’s a wonder that she survived the dorm life.
“First, you can start with cleaning up YOUR stuff off the floor. Everything in here is a tripping hazard.” I started to tell her but she interrupted before I could continue.
“The maid always did that for me. I don’t know how to clean my room.” Lydia admitted to me.
I looked at her surprised. The maid always did that for her? If she was so poor, then how could her family afford a maid? Lydia had to be putting a line on me for sympathy. I could feel the headache becoming more real.
“Then you better start doing that now. I have to get new research done because of your meddling on my laptop. It’s not that hard to clean a room.” I instructed her. How could someone not know how to clean their own room?
“But I don’t know how!” Lydia pleaded. “Will you help me?”
I clenched my fists in a ball. Now the headache had become worse. I could feel my blood pressure rising. I almost anticipated a heart attack soon. “Take your dirty clothes and put them in the laundry hamper to start with.” I said through gritted teeth.
Lydia gave me a pleading look but I gave her an adamant look in return. I was not going to budge. “I can’t tell you how many times I almost injured myself just making my way to my bed. Do it!”
Lydia sighed, looking down at her fingers. She moved from her fingers to her mess. Her eyes went wide. “That’s too much work!” She put her head under a pillow in fear.
“Get started then. It won’t be too much when you get started. Come on Lydia. I have a research paper to restart and school to attend in a few hours.”
Lydia poked her head out of the pillow. “Fine. You’re so mean!”
Now Lydia was back to her selfish self. Hopefully, she’d get the room clean so I could at least come home to a place that wasn’t a jungle of tripping hazards.
“I can’t believe I have to do this.” Lydia complained as she picked up a few of her clothes, placing them into the empty hamper in the corner. She looked back at me.
“There’s more.” I told her unrelenting. This was a little satisfying. I could see the floor in that part of the room. It was beautiful!
Lydia grumbled under her breath as she continued. No longer did she look up to me for relief. I was the warden she despised. I was making her clean up her room when a maid should be doing it. In the least, this is probably what she was thinking.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“I’m done.” Lydia told me with a smile.
“Good. There is one last thing I ask as payment from you. Besides keeping this room clean, turn the thermometer up about ten degrees. That should call it even.” I told her, annoyed it took her an hour just to get all her stuff where it needed to be held.
“You’re asking for too much!” Lydia complained.
“On the contrary, I’m not. I still have the research to be completed and it’s as cold as the north pole in here. I’m just asking ten degrees. Surely you can accomplish that small task after you picked up your mess.”
Lydia scoffed.
I could see Lydia thinking angry thoughts of my statement. ‘How dare I even ask her that?’ was probably making her way through her thoughts; Sometimes she was so narrow minded.
Delving on the broken computer, I could only note how much my academic scholarship covered. I didn’t doubt that later today I would need to call my parents. Once they would learn about the incident, they’d be getting in contact with her parents, making them compensate for my loss.
Even though my parents were middle class, they stood up for themselves when it was important. Both were responsible, working hard so I could attend college. Short to say, they were both thrilled and proud that I had achieved enough notice with my grades to get an academic scholarship.
The scholarship paid for room and board, classes, and books. All that I had to do was keep my grades up so I could keep my treasured scholarship. Straight A’s and honor classes would aid that scholarship more. I was determined to keep it.
“Five degrees.” Lydia bartered, not liking this one bit.
“Fifteen degrees.” I countered, not relenting from my wish. Five degrees was nothing in the fifty degree room we both resided in. What was she thinking keeping the room that cold?
“Ten?” Lydia asked, with a questionable look in her eye. It was almost a pleading look.
Lydia didn’t like the sound of fifteen even more by her pleading look. She was starting to look overwhelmed with her decision that she had to make. Her lips were starting to pout, making a crinkle on certain parts of her face. If she frowned anymore, she’d erupt in tears and throw a temper tantrum.
“Fifteen.” I responded adamantly. I wasn’t going to relent on fifteen now.
“Fine.” Lydia reluctantly agreed, scoffing once more. “Fifteen but no more. You’re already getting too much.”
“Only in your mind.” I mumbled to myself incoherently. I still had my research to do and the day was still young. Before Lydia could comment on my mumbling, I continued.
“Be sure to make that change immediately, Lydia.” I warned her as calm as I could. I meant business. “I could add more otherwise.”
Lydia shot me a dirty look but held her tongue.
I could tell that she wanted to say more but she suspected what the consequences would be far worse. At least in this, she showed some small sense of wisdom.
“I don’t have much time left before class starts.” I began to say. The last thing I needed was Lydia to put in more of her two cents to send my tempter flaring again. I wasn’t calm enough inside to let it go out from one ear to another. “I’ve got my research to restart before class starts. My paper is due tomorrow and I don’t need any more drama today.”
Lydia scoffed.
“I really don’t like fighting with you, Lydia. It leaves more havoc than a class 5 tornado. Let’s have this end this here and now. What do you say?” I told her, not wanting any hard feelings. I would let this go if she would.
“I don’t know.” Lydia said while in thought. Her hand was on her chin with her thoughts somewhere in the abyss of the twilight zone. “Promise you won’t call my parents.”
“For the next few days, I won’t. The laptop still has to be fixed. Besides, my parents took out a loan for the laptop. They won’t be thrilled to hear it’s broken. If we take it down to the geeks of the school, we might be able to fix it for free. You’ll just have to help me with what I can’t afford if a bill arrives out of it. I can’t pass my classes without the laptop. Please promise you won’t ever touch this again.” I told Lydia, trying to find a solution for the both of us to getalong. I didn’t want an electrical storm to occur every time we were both in the room.
“I’ll think about it.” Lydia told me while she was still in thought. “We’ll talk about it later.”
“Agreed.” I said with a smile. “I’ll see you later today. Good luck in your classes.”
~ ~ ~ ~
A loud snore woke me just as I was about to go into a deep sleep. Moaning in annoyance, I looked over in the sounds direction.
Lydia lay fast asleep in her bed, completely unaware of how much noise her snoring was making. As annoying as this was, it was something I knew I would eventually sleep through when I got tired enough.
Overly tired and too lazy to move out of bed, I remembered why her snoring didn’t bother me so much anymore. Worse could happen.
The scenario of the broken computer had made me grateful for the small victories with Lydia. No hard feelings came from the situation and I was able to find a computer geek to help fix the computer for free.
No longer did the messy room bother me as much. After one short week, the room had continued to the previously messy portrait of chaos. In the least, I could now stand the temperature in here. It had gone from the north pole to Iceland. It almost felt like home.
I laughed silently to myself. With all the colorful characters in the world, I had to be stuck with the most immature roommate of all of them.
From now on, instead of getting angry, I was going to find the humor in the situations. I doubted that anyone could be worse than Lydia.
anything i write on here. If you wish to use it, ask for permission. Thanks in advance.
Roommate Cocktail
Roommate Cocktail
By Isie Gallegos
*Copyright 2011 of Isie Gallegos Writings*
The clicking of the pen stopped. After all the noise the pen had been making earlier, the cricket of a pen was now silent.
“Thank God.” I said as I looked over at my roommate Lydia.
Lydia had a pile of drool sipping from the corner of her mouth as she slept silently. The homework under her massive mangle of curly brown hair cried silently for help. The drool threatened to seep into the dry surface that wished to stay dry as much as possible.
It was surprising how Lydia even got her homework done at the last minute without her official ‘drool’ signature, or as some would call it ‘mark’. Did Lydia’s teachers get bothered by this ‘signature mark’ and talk with her about it?
If so, Lydia had never mentioned it. Perhaps she was probably too embarrassed to mention it to me. Either way, it was a mystery to me.
Surely, my teachers would chastise me for anything they could. If my papers were remotely off the perfect scale, than it was red pen central all over the place with little reminders here and there. Perhaps, my teachers thought I was a perfectionist to the point of absolute perfection. I could only wish! I kept hoping they would leave me alone so I could relax for once.
I felt pity for the desk. Not only did it have to support the weight of everything Lydia always put on it, but the desk had to support her flattened face too. The drool was overtaking a part of the desk, threatening the dry paper. Aside from the obvious, her body weight didn’t make matters any easier for the poor, defenseless desk. The desk might break.
I could only imagine how the dorm personnel would take the news if Lydia broke the desk herself. All of her junk scattered itself around every possible inch. The junk would be claiming the desk for themselves if her head didn’t steal some of the space.
A snort eminated from Lydia. It was a loud snort, one that made a gut wrenching sound. I was always tempted to record the scene and place it on YouTube for all to see. Oh, how Lydia would get worked up over this!
I was half tempted to do this especially after all the messes of mass destruction that Lydia let clutter themselves about our small living space of the dorm room. Lydia had claimed the room as her own.
‘Ms. Lydia Clutterbug’ was Lydia’s official name to me. Oh, did she dislike this also! Even though Lydia was embarrassed by the not-so-friendly nickname, she continued her habits of sloth. We are all creatures of habit and even I had habits that I found hard to break.
I had a hard time peeling my eyes off of Lydia’s mangled mess of hair that claimed her head. I could never understand why anyone would let their hair get that tangled. I could never go one day without a shampooing, conditioning and styling.
As many times as I’d offered to help Lydia with her mop of hair, she would grumble under her breathe about me, moving over to her stash of manga and girl magazines. She was a creature of habit as most of us tend to be. She liked to get her ‘read on’.
‘Getting her read on’ was an odd term when taken into consideration. Only an odd person would use a term such as this. Could you guess who this odd person was?
With that thought, a yawn escaped me. The sandman had come and gone, doing his job too efficiently. Now it was time for me to do my job; sleep.
Glancing at my watch, I noted that it was only 9:30 pm. To a college student, it was still particularly early. This wasn’t the case for either Lydia or I.
We both nodded off early since we both had early classes. In order not to be late, I had to be resting soon. The morning light was unyielding when the sun popped up to the wake the dreaming world, robbing us of what extra slumber we could get.
The only way I could make it to the bed was a perilous one. First, I had to note the path visually that I was going to use. It was a chaotic jungle in the room as it was.
Second, I had to physically move all Lydia’s belongings to the side in order to make the path. I had to wonder how someone could own so many things and not take care of them.
On the rare occasion Lydia actually exercised, I had to be well aware of 3 lb. dumbbells that might be hiding in the wait with a vicious vendetta for my unsuspecting toes. Every encounter with those was always painful.
The third piece of the pie was putting on my covers fast enough to get warm. The low temperature that Lydia kept during the summer was always too much for me. After much argument, she finally brought the temperature up a few degrees just to get me off her back. I was thankful for this. It would be unwise for me to move further on bringing the temperature a little warmer. I was lucky she compensated even this much.
I reached my bed, grabbing the soft cover. The soft and fluffy blanket was a welcomed relief to the cold room. I quickly slipped under the sheets and blanket. Just as quickly as the blanket and the sheets had moved, my body slipped under the both of them. The warmth first turned to my feet, moving up my body until I was fully covered with the blanket on top.
With the welcomed warmth, it was now time to rest my eyes and sleep.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
As tired as I was, sleep was not forthcoming. I lay there in my bed staring at the ceiling. It was hard not to go into thought mode while in this tired state of mind.
Ms. Lydia Clutterbugs disastrous encounter with my laptop was the first thought that came to mind. Why did everything always go back to Lydia?
If Ms. Lydia Clutterbug had not broken my laptop the week before, she wouldn’t have agreed to anything. When the laptop was on my bed and I was out on a morning jog, Lydia had decided that she was going to surf the internet on my computer. As illiterate as Lydia was about computers, it didn’t take long for her go accidentally into the setting and play with the unknown ‘toys’. Needless to say, I had arrived home to find a computer that refused to function properly. This didn’t make anything better than Lydia claiming she wasn’t part of the problem.
“Your computer is broken. You should get it fixed.” Lydia informed me while reading one of her girl magazines. She didn’t even take the time to look up at me when she said this.
I looked at Lydia, then back at my computer. “It was working just fine when I’d left.”
Without wasting any time, I made my way over to the computer. Lifting up the lid, I noticed it immediately. An error message that I’d never seen before was blinking on the screen, demanding attention.
The message read; The driver for this device might be corrupted, or your system may be running low on memory or other resources. (Code 3)
Upon seeing this message, I couldn’t help but sigh. I had a paper due tomorrow. This was very bad timing. “You didn’t play with the laptop, did you?” I inquired, moving an eye cautiously Lydia’s way. For now, I would withhold any judgements.
“Why would I play with your broken computer?” Lydia shot back offended. As if she’d touch that insidious laptop. This was probably pure accusation to her.
“Lydia.” I reminded her, sensing she was hiding something. I knew her better than that.
“I only moved it a little.” Lydia finally admitted.
“A little? From the looks of it, and I’m no technician, you’ve played with the settings.” I calmed myself down some, sensing a stress headache coming on. “Do you know how much a technician is going to cost? Two hundred dollars just to get it fixed at the least!”
“You’re exaggerating.” Lydia told me, looking at me with annoyance.
Lydia probably thought I was a drama queen. The fact of the matter is if she didn’t do things to annoy me, there would be no drama at all. It’s almost as if she did these things on purpose to test my patience. I wasn’t going to go into anything else that she did. I could already feel the pounding beginning in my head.
“I have a paper due tomorrow, Lydia.” I explained as calmly as I could. It was sad I had to explain things to her as if she were a child. “All my research was saved on the computer that you just ‘moved a little’. Don’t you have any regard for anyone else’s property?”
Lydia kept reading her magazine. “You shouldn’t buy crappy laptops then.”
Lydia had gone too far this time. This childish act of hers was going to cost me more than just annoyance. I looked at Lydia with one eyebrow raised above the other. This was ridiculous. She was going to get this fixed.
“I spent good money on that laptop. Since you broke it, you’ll pay for the fixing. It’s only fair.” I told her, keeping myself calm as possible. The pounding remained on the left side of my head, making me wish they’d chosen a better roommate for me when they grouped the students together.
“Fair?!” Lydia shot back dramatically. She dropped the magazine she was reading, putting her hands to her sides with her palms exposed. The expression on her face was priceless. If only this had appeared at a different time. “How can fixing YOUR broken CRAP laptop be fair for ME? I’m not rich you know.”
“You should have thought of that BEFORE you ‘moved’ it. Pay your dues.” I scoffed, holding my temper in check. My patience was beginning to wear very thin. I was trying to be considerate and not explode on inconsiderate Lydia.
“My dues are not to you.” Lydia shot back with a pompous tone. “This is my room and this is my stuff. You’re just a guest here.”
“Your room?!” I yelled, no longer able to keep my temper withheld. I couldn’t help the sarcasm that would be flowing like a river as I continued speaking. I was livid now. “As ‘poor’ as you say you are, you should have your own room. You talk big yet you have an inability to get along with anyone but yourself. We SHARE this room but you take no mind to that! You are so selfish!”
Lydia suspected I was upset by the look on her face and the tone in my voice. The smug look that she had once held had melted to a new expression; fear. The color had drained from her face, replaced with a pale shade of white. This white shade she wore would make a ghost jealous. The shade only accentuated her brown eyes that were about to pop out of their sockets.
I took a moment to stand where I was in a vain attempt to calm my breathing. The last thing I needed was to hyperventilate and pass out. With the current situation happening between us, Lydia would leave me for dead without a second thought.
“Don’t be mad.” Lydia told me, trying to sooth my anger. Genuine fear was in her eyes. “I really don’t have the money to fix the laptop. I don’t want to ask my parents for the money either. They’ll kill me!”
“You really mean that they’ll be disappointed, right?” I inquired, working my way down from the anger triangle. It was a tough journey in itself. My head was pounding from the sudden spike in blood pressure. All I wanted to do was lay down with a cold cloth over my eyes. I was also half tempted to take her to court over this. That information on my laptop was vital to the success of my education and future.
Lydia looked at me with genuine worry. Tears were starting to form.
These tears brought me down to earth again. The anger triangle had disappeared completely. Lydia looked so helpless.
“Make it up to me then.” I told Lydia with a sigh. I was going to have to make up for so much research now. The paper was due tomorrow! This was all because of… No. It was time for me to put that behind me. I had a plan.
“Make it up to you?” Lydia inquired with genuine confusion. “I don’t have the money for the repairs. I don’t see how I can do that.”
Smacking my the palm of my hand on my forehead, I bit my tongue gently. I wasn’t going to yell at Lydia anymore today. This was going to be a challenge.
As sympathetic as I was towards Lydia, she always found some way to annoy me. Innocence wasn’t always the easiest thing to deal with. Lydia must have been really sheltered at home. It’s a wonder that she survived the dorm life.
“First, you can start with cleaning up YOUR stuff off the floor. Everything in here is a tripping hazard.” I started to tell her but she interrupted before I could continue.
“The maid always did that for me. I don’t know how to clean my room.” Lydia admitted to me.
I looked at her surprised. The maid always did that for her? If she was so poor, then how could her family afford a maid? Lydia had to be putting a line on me for sympathy. I could feel the headache becoming more real.
“Then you better start doing that now. I have to get new research done because of your meddling on my laptop. It’s not that hard to clean a room.” I instructed her. How could someone not know how to clean their own room?
“But I don’t know how!” Lydia pleaded. “Will you help me?”
I clenched my fists in a ball. Now the headache had become worse. I could feel my blood pressure rising. I almost anticipated a heart attack soon. “Take your dirty clothes and put them in the laundry hamper to start with.” I said through gritted teeth.
Lydia gave me a pleading look but I gave her an adamant look in return. I was not going to budge. “I can’t tell you how many times I almost injured myself just making my way to my bed. Do it!”
Lydia sighed, looking down at her fingers. She moved from her fingers to her mess. Her eyes went wide. “That’s too much work!” She put her head under a pillow in fear.
“Get started then. It won’t be too much when you get started. Come on Lydia. I have a research paper to restart and school to attend in a few hours.”
Lydia poked her head out of the pillow. “Fine. You’re so mean!”
Now Lydia was back to her selfish self. Hopefully, she’d get the room clean so I could at least come home to a place that wasn’t a jungle of tripping hazards.
“I can’t believe I have to do this.” Lydia complained as she picked up a few of her clothes, placing them into the empty hamper in the corner. She looked back at me.
“There’s more.” I told her unrelenting. This was a little satisfying. I could see the floor in that part of the room. It was beautiful!
Lydia grumbled under her breath as she continued. No longer did she look up to me for relief. I was the warden she despised. I was making her clean up her room when a maid should be doing it. In the least, this is probably what she was thinking.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“I’m done.” Lydia told me with a smile.
“Good. There is one last thing I ask as payment from you. Besides keeping this room clean, turn the thermometer up about ten degrees. That should call it even.” I told her, annoyed it took her an hour just to get all her stuff where it needed to be held.
“You’re asking for too much!” Lydia complained.
“On the contrary, I’m not. I still have the research to be completed and it’s as cold as the north pole in here. I’m just asking ten degrees. Surely you can accomplish that small task after you picked up your mess.”
Lydia scoffed.
I could see Lydia thinking angry thoughts of my statement. ‘How dare I even ask her that?’ was probably making her way through her thoughts; Sometimes she was so narrow minded.
Delving on the broken computer, I could only note how much my academic scholarship covered. I didn’t doubt that later today I would need to call my parents. Once they would learn about the incident, they’d be getting in contact with her parents, making them compensate for my loss.
Even though my parents were middle class, they stood up for themselves when it was important. Both were responsible, working hard so I could attend college. Short to say, they were both thrilled and proud that I had achieved enough notice with my grades to get an academic scholarship.
The scholarship paid for room and board, classes, and books. All that I had to do was keep my grades up so I could keep my treasured scholarship. Straight A’s and honor classes would aid that scholarship more. I was determined to keep it.
“Five degrees.” Lydia bartered, not liking this one bit.
“Fifteen degrees.” I countered, not relenting from my wish. Five degrees was nothing in the fifty degree room we both resided in. What was she thinking keeping the room that cold?
“Ten?” Lydia asked, with a questionable look in her eye. It was almost a pleading look.
Lydia didn’t like the sound of fifteen even more by her pleading look. She was starting to look overwhelmed with her decision that she had to make. Her lips were starting to pout, making a crinkle on certain parts of her face. If she frowned anymore, she’d erupt in tears and throw a temper tantrum.
“Fifteen.” I responded adamantly. I wasn’t going to relent on fifteen now.
“Fine.” Lydia reluctantly agreed, scoffing once more. “Fifteen but no more. You’re already getting too much.”
“Only in your mind.” I mumbled to myself incoherently. I still had my research to do and the day was still young. Before Lydia could comment on my mumbling, I continued.
“Be sure to make that change immediately, Lydia.” I warned her as calm as I could. I meant business. “I could add more otherwise.”
Lydia shot me a dirty look but held her tongue.
I could tell that she wanted to say more but she suspected what the consequences would be far worse. At least in this, she showed some small sense of wisdom.
“I don’t have much time left before class starts.” I began to say. The last thing I needed was Lydia to put in more of her two cents to send my tempter flaring again. I wasn’t calm enough inside to let it go out from one ear to another. “I’ve got my research to restart before class starts. My paper is due tomorrow and I don’t need any more drama today.”
Lydia scoffed.
“I really don’t like fighting with you, Lydia. It leaves more havoc than a class 5 tornado. Let’s have this end this here and now. What do you say?” I told her, not wanting any hard feelings. I would let this go if she would.
“I don’t know.” Lydia said while in thought. Her hand was on her chin with her thoughts somewhere in the abyss of the twilight zone. “Promise you won’t call my parents.”
“For the next few days, I won’t. The laptop still has to be fixed. Besides, my parents took out a loan for the laptop. They won’t be thrilled to hear it’s broken. If we take it down to the geeks of the school, we might be able to fix it for free. You’ll just have to help me with what I can’t afford if a bill arrives out of it. I can’t pass my classes without the laptop. Please promise you won’t ever touch this again.” I told Lydia, trying to find a solution for the both of us to getalong. I didn’t want an electrical storm to occur every time we were both in the room.
“I’ll think about it.” Lydia told me while she was still in thought. “We’ll talk about it later.”
“Agreed.” I said with a smile. “I’ll see you later today. Good luck in your classes.”
~ ~ ~ ~
A loud snore woke me just as I was about to go into a deep sleep. Moaning in annoyance, I looked over in the sounds direction.
Lydia lay fast asleep in her bed, completely unaware of how much noise her snoring was making. As annoying as this was, it was something I knew I would eventually sleep through when I got tired enough.
Overly tired and too lazy to move out of bed, I remembered why her snoring didn’t bother me so much anymore. Worse could happen.
The scenario of the broken computer had made me grateful for the small victories with Lydia. No hard feelings came from the situation and I was able to find a computer geek to help fix the computer for free.
No longer did the messy room bother me as much. After one short week, the room had continued to the previously messy portrait of chaos. In the least, I could now stand the temperature in here. It had gone from the north pole to Iceland. It almost felt like home.
I laughed silently to myself. With all the colorful characters in the world, I had to be stuck with the most immature roommate of all of them.
From now on, instead of getting angry, I was going to find the humor in the situations. I doubted that anyone could be worse than Lydia.