If you wear socks you can sneak better when there are parties at your house

When the second wave of revelers

enters the kitchen—

when you’ve just said goodbye to the last set,

yawning, mellow folk—

when more friends mosey in

and seamlessly take over the entertaining—

there are two choices.

You can stay up and start a whole new round

of conversation,

finding out about new jobs and

chewing over relationship choices and

making another round of drinks,

or you can creep quietly upstairs

without even saying goodnight

and look at your computer,

peaceful,

 while they laugh downstairs.

(They won’t even notice you’re gone.)