Argument over $15 (long)

[handsome]

Last semester in May, I needed a place to dump some of my stuff for the summer, so that it would be here when I moved back to college. I inquired about storage at storage centers and they gave me prices liek $30/mo, which comes out to $120. That is too much for storing winter clothes and a coffee table.

So I asked a friend "J" if I could leave my stuff at his vacant 1BR and he said sure. However, in a couple of weeks he'd have to move everything out of that 1BR into a 3BR apt nearby. So the couple of weeks pass by and he calls me up saying we had to move our stuff. I say no problem, and we plan to leave with one of his future housemates and a good friend of mine "H," who also has some clothes/books/chair there.

When we get to school, unbeknownst to myself and H, we have to move C's stuff as well. "C" is J's girlfriend and has a SH!TLOAD of stuff, very heavy and unorganized. Anyway, J lets us know he is renting a Uhaul truck for all his furniture, and while he's busy packing his clothes, H and I bring the Uhaul back and start loading. We'd later find out that the rental fee would be $45 and some change.

Both the former apartment and new apartment were on the 3rd floor, so there was a lot of hauling up and down stairs. It took about 10 hours of manual labor in 95 degree weather (humid) to pack/unpack everything. The stairs killed my legs, the lifting killed my arms and back, and needless to say my muscles were sore for a week.

J decides to treat us to sandwiches at Subway for helping him move his entire apartment. That was nice of him. Anyway, at the end of our trip, H asks me for $15, my share of the Uhaul. I politely refuse. We don't discuss it, maybe because we're all tired, and don't mention it for a few months.

July comes by, I send an IM to H to check up on things and he asks me for the $15 again. I explained to him that I shouldn't have to pay because J was the one who needed it, not me, and because there was never any discussion of me paying for it beforehand. Anyway, we both forget about it until today.

He asks me for the $15 again, obviously because he is short $15. He had contributed $15, J had contributed $15 and he was looking for my contribution. I don't feel like I owe that money.

On one hand, I feel I owe something because I was using their apartment for storage, which would have cost me $120, but on the other hand, I feel I helped J enough by moving his entire apartment as well as C's stuff. Had I known I had to spend an entire day moving stuff, I would have opted to pay the $120, since my hourly rate is higher than that. Anyway, I just wanted to see what you guys would do in my situation. All three of us are pretty well off in terms of money.