The Truth About War Of The Roommates Part 3: Eviction Notice
I did, in fact, fix things with Shane, as I depicted in the installment Dancing With Our Stars, and everything was fine until I started dating Paige. I was uncomfortable having her at my apartment because of what happened between Gabby and Shane, so she and I spent a lot of time hanging out at my parent's house, and after I would drop her off, it was just easier to sleep at my parent's house because I had been there all day. As I explained at the end of part 2, I started to lie to everyone in my life about where I was staying and I was trying to use this series to portray a different reality of the situation to make myself feel better.
In October 2023, maintenance came into our apartment (unannounced). They found that Shane had not been cleaning the bathroom, so it was really gross. They also said they replaced my closet doors since they were missing. We took them off and put them in the basement when I moved in because I put my dresser inside the closet to make my room function better. We had to pay for the bathroom cleanup and the “missing” closet doors. I paid my portion right away, even though the doors were not missing and could easily be put back in place.
I hated paying rent at a place I wasn’t staying at, but I justified it because I knew it would be over soon. You see, Paige and I were planning on moving into a new apartment after her lease was up in July. That got moved to May because that’s when my lease was up, and Kid is traveling for the summer again this year. So the plan was for me to sublease from Kid, and then Paige and I would move into a new apartment in August.
On Monday, March 11, 2024, Paige and I started working on the paperwork to get approved for an apartment for after her and Kid’s lease was up. Now that Friday, March 15, was S.M.’s 26th birthday and the one-year anniversary of my publishing my second book, Once In A Lifetime: A Song For Sam about her. I wrote a blog (that I didn’t end up publishing because of the events of this installment) to celebrate both her birthday and the anniversary.
The only thing I used my apartment for was to record my podcast since I had everything set up there. On Saturday the 16th, early in the morning, I drove to my apartment to record the blog for the podcast. As I walked up to the door, I noticed a yellow paper taped to it. It was an eviction notice that had been posted the previous Tuesday. It said that if we did not pay the money we owed by Friday we had to be out by the following Wednesday.
I freaked out immediately, and I would like to take this moment to apologize (again), to my parents and Paige for the frantic phone calls in which I screamed at all three of them out of sheer stress. Once my parents had tried and failed to calm me down, they got in contact with Shane’s parents while I was on the phone with Paige. It turned out that Shane had seen the notice but thought that it had to be a mistake because he was paying his rent, even though he hadn’t paid the bathroom fee. His parents paid his bill, and we didn’t get evicted!
Writing this three-parter was more for therapeutic purposes than any installment I've written before. I’m not writing any of this to say that I hate Shane. Quite the opposite, actually. Ever since Shane and I moved in together, I have seen him as a permanent fixture in my life. But the stress of having to basically pay for him to live there and keeping it a secret took a major toll on my mental health. I am calling this season to be an advocate, in reference to the nonprofit I’m trying to start. But if this situation has taught me anything, it’s that I need to work on my self-advocacy too. I mean, if I can’t advocate for myself, how am I supposed to advocate for others?
Kid’s flight to Costa Rica was on Saturday, May 18th. That morning my brothers, Luke and Josh, and my former coworker Clo, helped Paige and I move me into Paige’s apartment. After we had got all my stuff in and everybody else was gone I reflected on the last two years. Obviously, my time living with Shane was not ideal, but I do not regret it. I will always be grateful for my friendship with Shane, and I’m looking forward to my next chapter, living with Paige.
Have a Greattastic day and be Safe!
J. Mitchie Ulibarri
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