The Keys to my Diary ~ Fern

Sunday, April 5

I really need to move into my own place. I've been trying hard to only focus on the positives of my living situation, but that becomes extremely difficult when you are awoken from a deep sleep—the way I was in the middle of the night last night—only to find a completely disgusting surprise waiting for you in the bathroom.

There are some great benefits to living in TKYC employee housing. I can walk to work and bask in my tropical surroundings. I have access to a fleet of employee golf carts that I can use to motor anywhere on club property that I need to go. ('Anywhere' being all of the places that aren't members-only or member-owned, of course.) I can utilize the employee workout room, laundry facilities, and game room at my convenience. My rent comes directly out of my check, so I don't even have to think about it. Best of all, it costs about a third of what any off-property rental would.

All of that is great, but living with three roommates who are almost half my age is starting to take its toll on me. I let it slide when they steal my food from the refrigerator. I even smile and shake my head as I pick up after them. It seems that I have managed to become the unofficial mom of the group. I listen to all of their ups and downs and rants and raves. I hug them and pat their backs to console them when their latest boyfriend has broken their hearts. I bite my tongue when they take the afore-mentioned heartbreaker back. I ignore it when they are loud late at night when they know I'm trying to sleep.

I really do care about the girls. If it were just the three of them in our living quarters, I would be fine with my situation. Unfortunately, they all too frequently bring men home. Okay, calling these boys 'men' is a stretch, but legally they are adults. Somehow, these sweet young ladies all manage to find incredibly disrespectful, sloppy, rude guys to date.

I know it makes me sound old, but I really don't think men acted this way when I was in my twenties. I've already mentioned the problems that they seem to have with toilet etiquette. These pigs are also loud and obnoxious, and they treat our home like it's their own. They come in with their pants hanging down almost to their knees. They take over our common areas like they live with us. They commandeer the living room television, which is our only TV. They put their feet up on our furniture. They leave their stuff wherever it drops. They are driving me crazy!

I really try not to let it get to me. Lately, when I start fuming, I close the door to my room and open The Secret to a random page. Then I read until I'm calmed down. It normally seems to help, but last night was just too much.

Cassie, my favorite of the girls, has started dating a complete punk. I'm not even sure what his name is because he merely gave me a half-hearted, uninterested head nod before shuffling away when Cassie tried to introduce us. He has been hanging out at, and stinking up, our place for about a week now. Last night, they got in really late. I know this because Cassie and I share a paper-thin bedroom wall.

I woke up when they slammed Cassie's bedroom door, rattling our entire unit. They barely even had time to walk across the room to her bed before I heard him start ramming into her. I wanted to shout, "Way to preheat the oven, Dipshit," but I somehow managed to refrain. The banging lasted less than a minute, which was no surprise at all to me. Then the snoring started almost immediately. It was maddening. I turned my ceiling fan on high and put my pillow over my head in an attempt to drown it out, but it was of no use. I seriously considered sneaking into Cassie's room and suffocating him, but the logical side of me decided that this punk wasn't worth going to jail over. Although, I am pretty sure that I could convince a jury that he had driven me insane. After all, I was feeling on the verge of insanity. For some reason, my emotions seem to run much higher in the middle of the night, when I'm supposed to be asleep.

I ended up putting in my earphones and listening to some old-school 80's tunes while reading The Secret for most of the rest of the night. It calmed me down, and I was feeling much better by the time I decided to get ready for work.

So, I was in a pretty good state of mind when that slob of a punk managed to ruin it AGAIN! I had my bathroom caddy and clothes for the day in hand when I opened my door to head into our shared bathroom to get ready. He opened Cassie's door at the same time I opened mine, obviously heading to the same spot. Even though his shaggy mop of hair was hanging down in his eyes, I know he saw me. He didn't bother to acknowledge me at all before walking right into the bathroom and slamming the door, likely waking everyone else in our apartment.

I said, "Oh no, you go right ahead," to the shut door, my voice dripping with sarcasm. I had no choice but to go back to my room and wait. Well, I guess there were other choices, but they mostly involved violence and the risk of seeing that idiot's dong. I wasn't willing to take that chance.

I took a few deep breaths in my room and tried to tell myself that he was probably just peeing around the rim of the toilet, and that I would have the bathroom soon. When I heard the shower start I almost came unglued. By the grungy looks of him, he probably only takes a shower once a week or so, and he chose my shower when I wanted to use it?!? Unbelievable.

I went back to my music and book for a bit. After some meditative breathing and a couple of chapters of The Secret, I turned my music off. All was quiet in the bathroom, so I re-gathered my stuff and peeked out of my room. The bathroom door was open, so I locked myself in there. That's when I saw it. The shower curtain was open and annoying punk had left me a big, disgusting message.

It's hard to even write the words because what he did is so appalling and gross, but here goes. He had smeared a giant, blood-streaked booger on our shower wall and left it for someone else to clean up. I almost couldn't believe my eyes. What kind of person would do that?

I should probably thank him because that was just the incentive I needed. I whirled around to head to Marina and Frank's to take my shower and decided right then that I am getting my own place. I am way too old to be dealing with that kind of childish rudeness.

***If you don't want to wait to read more, the entire book is available as a FREE download! Get it at your favorite ebook vendor HERE: https://books2read.com/u/3JKKBg