[Intro — Female, no beat] Don't play it. I know the end. Everybody watched. I was there. [Verse 1 — Male, sly rap, rain] Two a.m., rain on the laundromat glass Girl kicking a vending machine for her cash "Need a hand?" "I need my eight dollars back. Who puts his own face on a jacket like that?" "They call me Himothy." "Your mother do too?" "Nah, she calls me Tim." "Then Tim, hold this screw." Lights died. Old lady slipped by the door We got her outside. No applause, no award I showed her my flood rescue, then what I'd erased: Forty-one seconds too scared to be brave "You were scared?" "Yeah." "But you jumped?" "Yeah." "Then quit editing yourself, dumbass." That's how we met. [Verse 2 — Female/Male, warm groove] [Female] Two years clean, still Methany online Shay gave me work; Lou kept an eye on mine I fixed old signs; he bought chairs for our place One crooked as hell. Said, "That's yours, babe." [Male] She wanted yellow. I wanted black. Bought both cans, couldn't take either back. We built a whole future arguing at the store. [Female] "No filming us at home. Promise, Tim." [Male] "I swear." I meant it. Until they offered more. [Chorus — Female singing, Male underneath] Come home mad, slam the door Call me every name; I'll call you forty more We can hate each other all damn night Just come home breathing, come home alive [Male] I'm coming home. I'm coming home. [Verse 3 — Argument, drums fracture] [Male] Dime promised six figures. A shop of our own. He wanted her old footage. I signed alone. [Female] "You sold my worst days and called it our future? Put my lowest hours in front of a producer?" [Male] "They already knew! I was helping us out!" [Female] "I WAS ALREADY OUT! That's what love's about?" [Male] Then she released my rescue, uncut, online: Forty-one seconds frozen, afraid I might die. [Female] "Now they see you're scared." God, that was cruel. [Male] "I trusted you with that." [Female] "AND I TRUSTED YOU TOO!" [Silence] [Female] I wanted him hurt. I knew exactly what I'd done. [Chorus — Female, raw] Come home mad, slam the door I don't even know what we're fighting for We can hate each other all damn night Just come home breathing, come home alive [Verse 4 — Months later, bare keys] [Male] She came for her toolbox; I'd fixed that chair. [Female] "Ruined its personality." He laughed. I nearly stayed. [Male] "Saturday? Just us. No Dime. No cameras." [Female] "Don't be late, Tim." I touched his wrist. [Male] I watched her leave without reaching for my phone. Let one good thing happen with nobody knowing. [Verse 5 — Pulsing, urgent] [Female] Cruz wanted twenty grand, threatened where I'd sleep. Posted Lou's face and the address of the shop. I called the police. Told Tim, "Do NOT go down there." [Male] Dime said, "Face him on camera." I said no. Then I saw Lou at the shop and had to go. [Female] "TIM, GET BACK IN THE TRUCK!" [Male] "Cruz has Lou by the jacket!" [Female] "THE POLICE ARE COMING!" [Male] "Dime's still fucking filming!" [Female] "PUT THE PHONE DOWN!" [Male] Cruz shoved Lou. I saw metal at his waist. That flood came back, the forty-one seconds of fear. But Lou was on the ground. I had time to move. [Female] "TIM! PLEASE!" [Male] I pulled Lou clear. "He's got a—" [HARD STOP — silence] [Aftermath — Female, barely singing] His phone by my shoe, cracked screen still lit Lou holding his side; Tim looking up at me "Don't close your eyes." "I'm scared." "I know. Me too." He tried to finish a sentence. I'm still waiting for him to. They're calling him Himothy, printing shirts with his face The world got his last minute, another hero to praise They didn't see him choose yellow at the hardware store Didn't know he fixed that crooked chair while I was gone They got the footage, the headlines, the sale I was the one who was there. [Six years later — Female, warm keys] Yellow door, my own shop. Lou carries the chairs upstairs. "These ugly motherfuckers?" "Historical artifacts." I take a picture, type Tim a joke in my phone. For one whole second I forget he died. Lou says, "Coffee?" "Yeah. Make it strong." He sits in Tim's chair. No camera on. [Final Chorus — Female alone, slowing] Come home mad, slam the door Call me anything; I won't keep score We can hate each other all damn night Just come home breathing... Come home alive. [Outro — Female, dry] Don't play it. I know how it ends. I was there.
