‘She’s Leaving Home’ and a Couch Moves In

  Shortly after that party, Lori informed me that she was going to move in with her boyfriend, Chris, that she had now been dating for over a year. It was a long time in coming and my emotions were mixed on it. On one end, things were uncomfortable at times when Lori and I were able to relate to each other more and have inside jokes even with her boyfriend in the room. And also things like her bringing me along when she wanted to buy a house instead of him. So I was glad they were moving forward with their relationship, but on the other hand, I was losing my best friend. They were going to rent a house up north and even though it was only about 25 minutes away, I knew things wouldn’t be the same.

  We had a discussion about this a few months before, when we were putting away Christmas decorations and Lori separated the guinea pig’s little Christmas stockings into separate boxes. I called her out on it and she said she didn’t know what things would be like in a year. In reality, she knew Chris was going to move out of the house he was renting with Justin when their lease was expiring. Justin was going to move in with and marry a girl who he had an on again off again relationship with for years.

  More immediate concerns for me is could I afford the rent of my two bedroom, two bath apartment on my own. Lori and My lease didn’t expire until August and here we are in April. Lori was going to pay her half of May’s rent so that was good. I calculated my finances. Chrissy had put me in huge debt that I was still paying off, but at least Lori finally convinced me to sign up for one of those debt consolidation companies that at least made my payments manageable and actually cut into the debt substantially. In the end, I figured I could manage it although I couldn’t be extravagant

  The second problem was furniture. Lori bought most of the furniture in the house at a thrift store. It wasn’t great stuff, but it was vintage and velvet. She wanted to take it with her. Alan, whom gave me his old TV when I was in need, now gave me an awesome leather recliner his wife no longer wanted him to have. In addition to that, Lori’s friend, Danica, had an L shaped couch that had a pull out bed that she didn’t want. Lori offered to help me get the couch down to my place.  She had Chris borrow a friend’s truck and we drove up to get the couch. Danica had said it was in good condition with one minor exception, but the truth was, it wasn’t in good condition at all. While moving this couch down two flights of stairs, Lori kept apologizing and telling me I didn’t have to keep it if I didn’t want it.

  We got it in the truck and I rode with Chris. Lori followed behind. Halfway back to my apartment, the truck started acting funny, so Chris pulled off the highway. When we turned off the exit ramp, the brakes gave out and we rear ended another car. We hit hard enough that the radiator of the truck pushed into the fan. The other car had no little damage and the driver was cool about it.  But Chris would have to get his friend’s truck fixed.

  I felt really guilty about this, but I didn’t have money to give him to help get it fixed. Plus, if the brakes give out on a car, is it partially the car owner’s responsibility too. It wasn’t careless driving. If I lend my car out and it breaks down. do I make them pay for it? If that’s the case, I need to lend my car out more often.

  Anyway, I felt guilty, and Lori did too. Quietly, we both agreed I would be stuck with this crappy couch for a while and I should be happy to have it.

  With the couch saga behind us, Lori and Chris went to their new home and I was on my own. Well, me and my two guinea pigs.