WIBTA if I didn't let my partner pay my friend back gas money?

So I(22f) and my partner(21m) got a ride from one of my childhood friends(23f) a while back. We went out to a bar with my grandma and we're not having a good time at all. My friend generously on her own free will offered to meet us at the bar and take us home. We offered to hang out for a while make the trip worth it, she declined.

However for this 35 minute drive she asked me to pay her $100??? I was a little taken aback by this, context for why:

I have been cleaning her moms house, completely free of charge and not expecting favors in return. Her mom has been in a terrible mental health rut since we were in elementary school together, and has been slowly killing herself and her two daughters for the better half of 10 years now. Her mom hates me, and even has cut contact between me and friend a few times for honestly valid reasons(my mom's boyfriend at the time was a controlling freak, I was/still honestly am manic depressive, etc etc)

Friend works full time and does college classes full time, and is also expected to clean that entire dump yard essentially atp. There's been a few times I was there cleaning and I would open the windows in the dead of winter because the smell was that bad. I regret not wearing PPE the first few times going there honestly and have had a mystery cough since the last time I went there(don't know if it's related) I have done minimum a cleaning a month, but usually more twords 2 or 3, since end of Feb/start of march. 3-8 hours every time I'm there.

Now recently she has been hounding me for that $100. And granted she does buy me coffee, never asked she just stops there for herself after picking me up and knows what I like and will usually add it to the order. And will usually share a lunch while I'm there if it's a longer cleaning day. And I did say it's purely to help her and I do not expect anything in return. However $100 for a maximum hour round trip feels a little excessive?

We originally agreed on 50 before she left to pick us up, which my boyfriend agreed to pay. but she upped it to 100 when she got there and was somehow already at a half tank(also how the fuck do you use half a 22gal tank on a <10mile drive?)

I feel like her car has to have a gas leak or somethings going on with the whole below half situation. But I don't drive and it is a newer car that takes premium only. So maybe this is reasonable to request? But Ive been between jobs unwillingly, and offered to do the cleanings as a way to have something to do to feel like I had some worth in all honesty. My bank account has been negative since Halloween last year.

Wibta to decline my boyfriend paying the 50, let alone the 100? While I never expected anything in return for the cleanings, this feels excessive since I've done hundreds if not thousands of what I would normally charge doing cleanings like this for anyone I don't consider basically a sister.

Posted Jul 11, 2026, 1:35 PM UTC

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