My Roommate Demands I Pay Her Back Half the Rent Because She Was Away for Two Weeks

My roommate returned from a luxurious vacation with an insane demand: she wanted a refund of her rent since she hadn’t “used” her room for two weeks. Oh, I paid her some money alright, but it wasn’t what she was expecting.

Hi, I’m Felicity. At 24, I was just trying to navigate life in an overpriced city with my roommate, Ashley. Sharing rent wasn’t just about friendship. It was all about survival. Most people couldn’t afford to live in that area on their own.

So, Ashley and I struck a deal. We also always split things down the middle, and for a while, it worked out fine. That is until she returned from a two-week vacation and decided the rules no longer applied to her.

Let me explain a bit more about her. Ashley is definitely a “Keeping Up with the Joneses” kind of person. She would rather drown in debt than not have the latest things or go to the trendiest places.

For the most part, I didn’t care. It was her life. As long as her part of the rent came on time, her choices didn’t matter to me. But one time, her friends, most of whom had wealthy parents, invited her on a vacation.

They went to a beach resort and enjoyed all the luxuries they wanted. I saw the proof on Instagram. In my experience, rich people expect others to be rich too. You would think they’d treat their friends, but that’s not always true.

Also, Ashley was paying for herself and had too much pride to say she couldn’t afford stuff. That’s one of her many issues. But again, it was her life. These choices didn’t affect me until she returned from the trip.

As soon as she left her luggage in her room, she came to the living room and bombarded me with stories about the dishes they ate, the places they saw, the men they flirted with, and the shopping they did. I nodded along as best as I could before she went to sleep.