All We Never Wanted

You said, “Move in,” on a Tuesday night Like it wasn’t a loaded gun disguised as a compromise I said yes because I liked the way it sounded Not because I thought we’d survive it Your friends all said we were too different My friends said that was the interesting part Nobody warns you that chemistry is easy It’s character that breaks your heart We called every red flag growing pains Then acted shocked when the whole thing went up in flames It’s all we never wanted You in my kitchen, me in your therapy Telling the same story differently It’s all we never wanted The tears, the blame, the taking sides The “I hate you” dressed up as “I’m fine” Now everybody gets an opinion Everybody knows what went wrong It’s all we never wanted So why does it feel like we wanted it all along? You loved me best when I wasn’t easy When I laughed at every careless thing you did I loved you best when you needed saving Funny how neither one of us admits it Those feelings signals life unfounded Terrible sounds as the seagulls surrounded You called me dramatic at dinner I called you selfish in the car Two people trying to win arguments While quietly losing what they are We kept score for so many months Eventually there was nobody left to love It’s all we never wanted Your mother asking where I went My father saying I was better off It’s all we never wanted The mutual friends picking a side Like we’re some headline they can talk about Everybody gets a version Everybody writes a song It’s all we never wanted So why does it feel like we wanted it all along? Here’s the part they’ll probably criticise… You weren’t the villain I wasn’t either The truth is way less entertaining You lied sometimes I lied better You shut down I got louder You left the room I left bruises on the memory of it Nobody cheated Nobody cheated We just kept choosing being right Over being together And that’s harder to forgive It’s all we never wanted No smoking gun, no grand betrayal Just two people failing in real time It’s all we never wanted The kind of ending nobody sings about Because nobody comes out looking good If I saw you tomorrow I’d still know every reason why we broke And every reason why I stayed so long It’s all we never wanted And that’s exactly why it hurt