The prosecution: Raquel
double quotation markI can hear her swishing and spitting from my room. I have a visceral reaction to it
I’ve lived with Gina for two years, after we both went through breakups and needed a new place to live. She’s fun and kind, but what annoys me at home is her tendency to brush her teeth around the house. She’ll do it in the kitchen sink sometimes, if she’s running out the door.Gina has ADHD and is always doing three tasks at once. She will leave her keys in the door, which I worry about, or forget where she put her toothbrush in the morning. I’ll come home and see that she has left it on the side of the kitchen counter after using it, which I find gross, because the kitchen is for cooking, not for spitting. It’s where vegetables get washed and cups are rinsed. It should not be where I look down and see a foam trail of toothpaste sliding towards the plughole.In the bathroom, Gina has another bad habit – she drinks straight from the tap while brushing her teeth. Not once, not twice, but four or five times a session to rinse out her mouth. She leans over, sucks water directly from the faucet, swishes it around her mouth and spits. I can hear the whole symphony from my room, and I have a visceral reaction to it. I lie there and recoil. Why not just use a cup?I don’t know if her mouth is touching the tap, but I don’t want to know. That’s the same tap I use when I wash my face and when I fill up my water bottle.I don’t think this is me being precious. It’s about hygiene, and recognising that shared spaces require shared standards. Brushing your teeth should be confined to the bathroom sink, and done without turning the tap into a communal drinking fountain.Gina has said she will try to stop, but every time I ask, she pauses for about a week and then carries on again. Living with someone with ADHD is challenging at the best of times, but sometimes I feel she uses it as an excuse. I’m not perfect, but if someone asks me to change something about myself, I do try to take that on board. Gina could try a bit harder.The defence: Gina
