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Roommate Change

The front door of my apartment banged closed behind the last of Chip's friends. Like Chip himself, this friend was an overdeveloped gym rat, and the black plastic garbage bag holding the last of Chip's things from our apartment caused him no strain at all. Which left him plenty of energy to slam the door on his way out.

I collapsed on my ratty loveseat with a sigh. Finally! The only thing Chip had had going for him was his ability to pay half the rent on our two-bedroom apartment. For the last ten months, I'd had to put up with sharing that space with someone as diametrically my opposite as anyone could imagine. Where I was quiet, Chip was loud. Where I preferred my human interactions to be digitally mediated, Chip wanted to have his fellow meatheads over at all hours of the day and night. Watching sports. Drinking incredible quantities of beer. Making messes that I then had to clean up. Ugh!

Thank the gods Chip was a senior, and had finally finished his degree in Kinesiology--yes, he got an actual college degree in being a jock. (shudder) I had to admit that his pre-paying his share of the last two months of the lease was nice of him. If I wanted, I could coast through to the end of August with no roommate at all. I considered it; who wouldn't? However, I had another two years to go on my own BS in LIS--that's "Library and Information Sciences" to the uninitiated. And this apartment was one of the nicer ones I'd seen. I didn't want to risk losing it by waiting until the last minute to find another roommate before the the lease was due to renew.

No time like the present, right? I grabbed my laptop off the end table and navigated to the university's apartment hunting electronic bulletin board, and clicked through to the page that allowed one to post an ad for "Roommate Wanted."

  • Name: Dean McGonigal
  • Contact: [email protected]
  • # of bedrooms available: 1
  • Rent: $375
  • Utilities included? No
  • Location: 0.5 mi from university off Harper St
  • Details: Great location! Converted loft with large, open, shared living space. Shared Jack and Jill bathroom. Shared basic kitchen with all appliances. No onsite laundry. Lots of closet space. Fast Wi-Fi. No pets, no smoking, no drugs, no parties. University student preferred. 12-mo lease renews every Sept; early move-in okay.

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