The Roommate Game

My roommate Rachel Travis’s behavior always struck me as strange.

We got along fine most of the time, but whenever it came to social media likes, she’d go down the list of mutual friends, tapping like on everyone’s posts, except mine. Over and over again, she skipped me.

I thought maybe she just didn’t see them and didn’t think much more of it.

Every time she needed help, I gave it without hesitation. When I got my period and realized I was out of pads, I asked to borrow one from her.

She looked at me coldly. "This is mine. Why should I lend it to you? Do I have to?"

I paused, realizing she had a point, but I was in too much pain to get out of bed. So I said, weakly, "Then, could I buy one from you?"

Rachel flared up. "What do you take me for? You think I need your money? I’m not selling it!"

Seeing her like that, I suddenly remembered her family background wasn’t great. She lived off welfare. Maybe she thought I was humiliating her.

However, the cramps tore through me, and I couldn’t think about that. My voice shook with weakness.

"Rachel, please… just give me a pad. I need… a pad…"

She clicked her tongue when her eyes fell on my white pants that were stained red, her face twisting with disgust.

"Ugh. Filthy girl."

In the end, I had to call a girlfriend on campus to buy pads and painkillers for me.

For a while after, Rachel kept coming to me for help and to borrow things. Every time I remembered how she’d flat-out refused to sell me even one pad when I was in unbearable pain, my patience thinned.

So when she asked me again, I looked at her and said straight up, "Last time I asked to buy a pad, you deliberately refused me. So I don’t really feel like lending you anything either."

Rachel’s eyes went wide, and her voice turned pitiful, on the verge of tears. "No, Lila, why are you so sensitive? I wasn’t refusing you. I only had one left, and I was on my period too. You’re really just too sensitive."

Our other two roommates, Natalie Rivers and Chloe Hart, heard her voice and came over. Seeing Rachel’s fragile, innocent act, they took her side immediately.

"Lila, don’t overthink it. Rachel wouldn’t intentionally refuse you."

"Come on. We’re roommates. Let’s not start suspecting each other."

Sensitive? Was I really the one being sensitive?

I started doubting myself, questioning my own judgment, wondering if maybe I really was too sensitive.

However, later, I realized I had been right all along. Rachel had twisted everything and pushed the blame onto me. She was the one with the real problem!

I thought that since we were roommates and it was only the first semester, there was no need to sour things between us. Nonetheless, my genuine kindness had only made Rachel feel entitled to take advantage of me.