Dear Prudence,
I own a three-bedroom house and work from home. My half-brother, “Jared,” travels for work and usually lives with our parents. He is dating “Lisa” in my city, so he stays over with me when he has work in town and sees Lisa. She lived with her parents. My problem is how Lisa conducts herself in my house. She likes to sleep in when my brother has to leave for work and putz around eating my food, blasting music on my stereo, and generally being obnoxious. And she clearly has an exhibitionist streak because most of the time she is half naked—like wandering around in her bra and short shorts or my brother’s tank tops that do nothing to cover her breasts. I even caught her fresh from a shower wearing nothing but a towel and watching TV in my living room.
I am gay, but frankly her behavior is nothing but bizarre. I have mentioned to Jared several times that Lisa can’t linger when he isn’t here. The last time, I snapped at Lisa to get dressed and get the hell out of my house. She accused me of being a pervert and always staring at her. I told her she is basically doing everything but shaking her ass at me when I come out for coffee, so maybe go look in a mirror. This caused a huge rift between Jared and me. I ended up telling him to find another place to stay when he was in town and changed the locks for good measure.
Now my parents and Jared are pissed at me. Jared either has to get a motel room or do the six-hour around trip for work—both cost serious money. Jared has had plenty of girls over at my place that knew how to conduct themselves decently. I don’t understand what Lisa’s problem was. The first time I asked her to wear a bathrobe in the common areas should have been the end of it. I guess she took it as a personal challenge. Now I don’t know what to do about the rift between my family and me.
—House Rules