i had the feeling they might want to eat in the living room, so i got dressed and went out into the backyard to rake leaves. when i was done, i found them snuggled on the sofa. although they couldn't have known i hadn't eaten yet, they made no effort to share their food, the leftovers which they put away in one of my tupperware containers, while drinking my sodas and eating my ice cream sandwiches. 
i went out briefly to buy some paper garden refuse bags and some flowers for lisa. i came back to fill the bags with oak leaves and twigs, 3 bags worth, my hands black with garden debris. i figured now my upstairs neighbor and i are even, he cleaned up the front of the house a few weeks ago, and now i've done the backyard. after that, i washed the dishes, including all the pots and plates that were used to make lunch. i took a shower and microwaved some oatmeal. my roommate and his girlfriend were asleep on the sofa with the television on. i ate in my bedroom, felt like a servant in my own house. close to nightfall they went out, mike didn't say when he'd come back and i didn't bother to ask.
in the evening i went over to lisa's house in west cambridge, where she was having a house party with some of her friends. i made the mistake of not asking if there would be anyone i'd know, i just assumed there would be, which was not the case initially. i am very weary of strangers and spent some time by myself snacking in the living room and looking at lisa's books while everyone else was having lively conversations in the kitchen. 
the first to show up that i knew besides lisa was roy, one of the freelance lingo programmers that srm hired for some contract work. we talked shop, two programmers chatting about the stuff that they've been working on. i talked with another guy, forgot his name but he lives at the piano factory, about how advances in technology help humanity as much as they hurt it, then about apple, both of us being mac users. pierre was a belgium man with a french accent, his interesting story was how he went to afghanistan twice in the late 80's, amongst other exotic countries. scott arrived with girlfriend robin, and roy came back to entertain us more with his stories, including how he used to drive a taxicab in order to make enough money for rent, and how he purposely rammed a trolley car full of drunk frat guys one time. i left around 11pm, the temperature outside brisk, an empty house awaiting me.