The 'Love Room'

For the fourth straight time, a third-room roommate of mine has met with the epiphany of love.

Let me explain...

I've lived in this particular three-bedroom apartment for almost three years now. Originally, it was my friend Dave and I. We had lived in another house a few streets away and had to relocate, due to arguably shady dealings from the previous landlady (she sold the house out from underneath us to a new owner who wanted to live on the same floor that Dave and I shared; we were only given a month's notice).

The third room was designated as a storage room, but for whatever notion (or prenotion), Dave decided to move all of his stuff down the hallway from his spacious first room to the small half-bedroom. Yeah, so the room at the beginning of the hall made a pretty awesome computer room and workstation. But, what had driven Dave to do this?? It wasn't for the roomy closet space, if I remember correctly...

He had just recently met a girl. Now infatuated, she would stay over all of the time--the two of them staying up late watching John Cusack movies on digital cable in Dave's new, smaller bedroom by the bathroom. I'm trying not to digress here. Anyways, Dave and his girl (Amy) got engaged. Dave and Amy would then spend the next few months scouting out houses to buy, all the while I was nervous of a change to come. And it came...

So, Dave and Amy bought a house nearby, all set up for the July 'move-out' and the pending October wedding. I scrambled to find some friends to fill the gap, specifically financially.

A debaucherous month went by (for me, and that's another story entirely), and good friends Tom and Jesse were set to move in. On account of Jesse's dog, he had to bow out and my co-worker Matt entered the lease instead. With the apartment full of three, money was no worry any longer. Nothing but good times ahead, I thought. But after only something like a little over two and a half months, I lost Tom to Stacy.

Stacy, Tom's girlfriend at the time, filled up all of his waking hours and won him over. Sure, things didn't fare too well with me being cranky all of the time about her constant presence at the house and his not coming out to the bars with us anymore. And, I blame myself for the distance. But, when he decided to move out of the place and in with a couple of my other friends to save money, I think he could've given me a little bit more than just three days notice! Egad!

Matt, who has been living in the first room, and I made our rounds looking for a possible candidate to have room with us. It was back to splitting rent and utilities down-the-middle again. In the meantime (sometime in January), my friend Sarah told us her younger sister Lauren was looking for a place in Pittsburgh--out from the 'rents' house.

This golden opportunity proved to be a blast, at first. Lauren moved in, got a job, bought a hookah, and we all sat around listening to CDs and shooting the shit. Everyone got along, all was well; and the third room at the end of the hallway was occupied again. But... then... along... came... Kori.

I could devote three or four good paragraphs to this motherfucker, but let's just keep it brief. Kori (terrible spelling) is a degenerate and a mooch and completely devoid of personality and unworthy of conversation... ahem. But, Lauren just had to be head-over-heels with this swell fella, and decided to start looking for a place for them to live together. Oh, the insanity of a young girl's mind. Yeah, I hated Kori. So did Matt. Who didn't? Lauren. And, my disdain toward him and his existence probably saddened her. This must've made it easy for her to ditch out on us and move to the South Side with him after giving us two days notice. Seriously, who makes this shit up??

Fuck if I can explain any of this! That room is haunted. I started to imagine the idea of putting an ad up on Craig's List.

• Temporary Roommate Wanted (Crafton)
• small room with spacious closet; month-to-month living situation; to live with two grumpy twentysomethings; w/washer (no dryer); tolerant of smoking; the person who shall move in will find true love in two months, guaranteed; apparently, no requirement for giving substantial notice when you finally plan to move out and live happily ever after with your significant other

Much later on in the year (2009), Matt and I finally found a co-tenant in our work buddy Sara. Sara, who is already in a good relationship, didn't seem to pose any threat to us of bailing--which was bonus. She moved in in November.

Sara brings her boyfriend Gregg over quite a bit, and Gregg is sweet as hell. Gregg and Sara get along great together, and we all sit around the living room watching Pens games and going over our taxes.

Well, the call of love sounded again this past week.

Early Friday morning, Matt and I received a text message from Sara announcing her recent engagement. What could I say to that? Figures! No, really, I'm very happy for her and she hasn't moved out yet. But, in all honesty, this is becoming a freak recurrence. It appears that Sara and Gregg haven't made any plans just yet, and all is calm before the storm. But, anyone out there who has been looking for that 'special someone' for quite some time, I'll let you know when the opportunity arises for you to move in with us and get your number called!

Sidenote: I guess it's a wonder Matt and I don't give it a try ourselves.

Call To Love - Crooked Fingers
Borrow Love and Go - Jackson C. Frank
Uh-oh, Love Comes To Town - Talking Heads
Love Street - The Doors