Alright this is a long story so buckle in.
I (23 F) moved in with my partner (23F), and our friend (22F) in October 2024. We'll call the friend "A"
In April 2025, A started dating a mutual friend of ours and that was the key change in our friendships. Her whole life and personality became about him. They were not great for each other btw (he cheated on her two weeks into them dating).
He lived in New York, and it was our goal to move to NYC in early 2026. Fast forward to October 2025. A started talking about how her boyfriend was going to break up with her if she didn’t move faster. I had recently accepted a work contract that would keep me in Seattle until the end of March, and she voiced not wanting to stay that long. We worked on a plan, where she was going to move out in January and live with her family in Rhode Island until March. Then we would all move to NYC starting April 1st.
We had transitioned to a month to month lease at that point, and so during these discussions I had with A, I pointed out that her portion of the rent would still need to be paid. I gave her the information on subletting in our complex, and set up a plan for payment if she couldn’t find someone to sublet. She had agreed to pay a minimum of $500 a month for February and March. For context, her portion of the rent was $800, as I wasn’t going to charge her for utilities since she wouldn’t be residing there.
It was January, and my partner and I had just come back from our anniversary trip. This was the night before A was supposed to leave, and she tells us she wasn’t going to move to NYC with us, and that she was going to move to Ireland.
She leaves, and our relationship with A got a little distant, but we still tried to maintain a good friendship with her. I got the utilities bill for Dec/Jan and asked if she could pay that as well as the rent for February, since I forgot we got billed on a rolling basis for utilities.
I reached out to her explaining the situation, and that's when A told me that she could only pay $800 for the utilities and the two months of rent. She gave me $400 in February, but then right before March she said she could only give me $250. This led to an incredibly long argument back and forth. In the end, A said that she actually didn't have to pay me anything because she wasn't on the lease (wrong), and she was being manipulated into giving us money.
It was a whole long argument that would take another few thousand characters to recap. I ended the conversation telling her how much she owed me and that I would let her know what was left to cover after we got the deposit back.
For two months rent and the utilities for Dec/Jan, she owed me $1,835. She gave me $650, and her portion of the returned deposit was $655. So she still owes me $550. I don't know how to contact her about paying that, especially because our last conversation didn't end well. She is very adamant that she owes absolutely nothing.