Lonely Hearts Club

“I’ve been told that before…”

Yeah his mouth had earned him some trouble. But he had needed it to provoke in certain times, certainly saved his skin. Looking the way he did he had to be able to trash talk with the best of them. “Oh please try, I’m sure my lawyers would have a field day with that pay out.”

He was certain the guy might still deck him and at least it would make for a good news story but he really didn’t want to wake up with a headache (not hangover induced). Maybe he should start biting his tongue with the change of heart the man suddenly had.

"Yeah, alright. Cheap's not even in my vocabulary. No need to worry about that." Carter waved his hand in a dismissive manner. He beckoned for Kisumi to follow him to the counter so he could put in an order for them.

"Wow, you must think you're quite a big deal to keep me in anticipation like this." He joked. The man took a pause to order Kisumi's vodka soda and brought his attention back to the other. He observed him for a few moments, his eyes narrowing a bit.

"It'd be too easy to just come out with it. How about this. I'll give you a couple hints and if you don't get it, you gotta go first." He proposed before handing Kisumi his drink when it was ready. Carter thought in silence for a few passing moments, tapping his chin.

Why I'm digging through the trash is none of your business.

We can introduce ourselves after it's safe to stop running!

So did you get suckered into helping as well?

I think I might be in the wrong class…

Sorry I almost ran you over.

Okay I don't mean to be nosy, but I have to know. Why are you buying 50 boxes of mac and cheese?

Excuse me, can you help me reach that?

I think your bag is on fire. Just thought you should know.

Well that was a dramatic entrance.

Why do you assume I'm to blame? You don't even know me.

You’re not supposed to be here, are you?

You know usually burglars steal valuables, not leftovers.

I think I accidentally got delivered your package.

I promise I have a perfectly legal explanation for this.

You might want to start running, this place is going to explode soon.

Do you know how to hot wire a car?

Hey, do you have a charger I can borrow?

Thanks for the help stranger!

I'm so sorry, I'll buy you a new coffee!

Quick, I need you to pretend you know me!

So is this your first time as a bank hostage or….

I think we're supposed to be running away from the scary noise.

Sorry about the window, I'll pay for it.

Uh…could you pretend you didn't see anything?

Oh hey, you're the one from the rumors.

(feel free to change pronouns)

Drop Dead

"I know that the bar closes at 11. I hope you never finish that beer."

"One night I was bored in bed and stalked you on the internet."

"It's feminine intuition 'cause I always had a vision of us standing like this."

"The most alive I've ever been, but kiss me and I might drop dead."

"You're so so pretty boy, I'm paranoid I made you up."

"Yeah I'd love it if you walked me home if you promised we could go real slow."

"I got chewing gum and a bunch of stuff I'd like to know."

"Have you ever been to Japan or taken that Eurostar to France?"

"I've been dropping hints all night that I'd love it if you held my hand, goddamn."

"Let's go steady. Let's go out."

"Pisces and a Gemini, but I think we might go really nice together."

"If you let me stay the night well I think I might just have to stay forever."

"Kiss me and I might drop dead."

Stupid Song

"New York City's never looked so blue."

"My friends are smoking blunts in the bathroom."

"They say that honest love is a cage that makes you feel free."

"All the girls at this party are so cool. That's never been a thing that I could do."

"Can't help but imagine what you say when you speak with me."

"You're a spark in the dark and my clothes all caught aflame."

"You should feel how I feel when somebody says your name."

"And I want you more than any stupid song could ever say."

"I'm a heart made of wax and I'm melting in the sun."

"I'm a thread on your shirt that is coming undone."

"I feel right, I feel wrong, I feel totally insane and I want you more than any stupid song could ever say."

"And if there is a god, he's the bond that's between us two."

"And I'm too shy to say what I see when I dream of you."

"I'm a car speeding down the boulevard without a brake."

"Every night like the one before. Dream of you from like 1 to 4."

"Positively and truly sure nobody's wanted somebody more."

"Tell your friends that you're mine, I'm yours."

"I'm going crazy, I'm going mad. I want you, baby, so bad."

Honeybee

"So I guess that it's true. time can heal even the worst of wounds."

"The clichés I knew seem so commonplace when I saw you."

"Let's just walk in the dark, hop the fence in the park."

"Baby boy, honeybee. God, I love the way you look at me"

"It's too hard to describe this in a way that feels honest."

"But even when I'm quiet, I love you, baby, I promise."

"I hope I never see what your face looks like goin'. A face, I swear, that I could spend my whole life knowin.'"

"Here's to hopin'."

"Pick me up, walk me home."

"Man, it feels like God threw me a bone."

"Sticky sweet, tangerine, would you sit and keep me company?"

"In the dark, I'm not scared. I just reach and you're right there."

"Everything I own just feels like ours."

Maggots for Brains

"My day was so mundane, I don't think I left the house."

"Drank a pot of coffee, tried to write, nothing came out."

"Somehow, it's the weekend, I'm still bored out of my skull."

"I went to a party but only on principle."

"Empty, look at me."

"I'm a zombie in my body, I'm a train off of the track."

"I feel dirty, I feel rotten, and the colors are all flat."

"I'm a sad shell of a woman and I've got maggots for brains."

"But that's just a thing that happens when my...When my baby goes away."

"Everything feels moldy like the fruit that's in my fridge."

"Everything that's funny, I wish I could tell to him."

"And sometimes, at a low point, I even wish for tragedy. 'Cause I know he'd come over and take real good care of me."

"It's so weird, he's not here."

"What can I do but think of you?"

U + Me = <3

"I think that you're killer."

"Take me out to dinner. You know you can take me anywhere."

"And all of my girlfriends roll their eyes. And tell me to take it slow this time."

"But I got a feelin' wounds are healin'."

"I know everybody changes, but I hope that we don't."

"Carve our names into the car seat leather."

"You plus me equals a heart forever."

"I like your big sister."

"I tried to win her over with my cynical humor and yacht rock music taste."

"All my ex-boyfriends have heard these lines, but I like you better by a million times."

"So buy me silver jewelry and all my favorite Cadbury and tell me yet again 'bout when we met and what you thought of me."

"Sometimes I get overwhelmed and way too far ahead of myself."

"I often get the feeling that I'll never want somebody else."

"They say modern love's a cruel endeavor. And to that I say 'fuck it, whatever'"

My Way

"It's a little hard to stomach all your amateur moves."

"You know he's with me, like obviously."

"You linger in the air just like a bad perfume. It's getting to me, embarrassingly."

"And here's the part where the girl gets pissed and the girl is me, did you get that hint?"

"You're in my way now."

"Don't go, go where you don't belong."

"Think I can't make out how hard you hang on?"

"Kind of insane how you keep calling, but you never get the message."

"It goes my way now."

"Man, I wonder what you think is gonna go down."

"You send him another poem and think that he'll let me go. Or maybe you're just tryna get me riled up now."

"You're posting another pic in clothes that I know are his."

"Well, here's a map of the lines I drew and some girl steps over and the girl is you."

"So, where'd you get that confidence from?"

"Last time that I checked, I won."

"Let me be direct, 'Just stop'"

"You're being fucking weird."

"Maybe I'm a petty bitch, but you made me resort to this."

"That's it, I win. That's it, I win."

Purple

"It's funny when your mom shows pictures of you in your school clothes."

"Your buzzcut and scrapes on your knees changed, but those eyes I still know."

"And it's crazy how I used to visit your town like a tourist. Now I got alocal grocery store and a favorite florist."

"You kissed my neck., made our paths intersect 'til the two lines formed a circle."

"I melt with you, your red and my blue. Now I see the world in purple, purple"

"Now a toothbrush, a coat, and pair of shoes all come in doubles.

"We fight over who I'm hanging out with like a real couple."

"It's a small world when it only can revolve around us two."

"It's crazy. I had big dreams 'til I tied myself to you."

"Now I'm all-consumed."

"Are we so in love? Are we too attached?"

"It feels too flat."

"It just feels sad."

The Cure

"All the pretty girls in the foreground of my mind. I thought I'd done enough, but they keep moving the line."

"I thought I found the antidote this time."

"All the nights I spent fighting bad thoughts in my room, feeling so alone, might as well be on the moon."

"I thought I found the antidote with you."

"But my head is full of poison, and my heart is full of doubt."

"I got toxins in my bloodstream, you tried hard to suck 'em out."

It feels like medication, and it's good for me, I'm sure. But it don't matter how your love feels anymore. It'll never be the cure."

"It'll never be the cure."

"Used to play a game in my head when I'd date a guy. Tally up the girls that he fucked 'til I start to cry."

"But I'm unraveled."

"Why can't you come stitch me up? Why can't it ever be enough?"

"It's not enough."

Begged

"All that I want is to know undoubtedly that you just have eyes for me. Could you make it clear?"

"All that I want is to sit here silently and watch movies on TV."

"What a shame you're not here. Here to witness my devotion and my endless well of needs."

"I'm an anchor in the ocean. You know I could never leave."

I'm patient, you're learning. Pretend it's not hurting."

"They say it's a virtue to not let good love slip away."

"So I'm cool and forgiving. I'll take what you're giving."

"But nothing's quite enough when I know that to get it, I begged."

"Yeah, to get it, I begged."

"I have this thought when I lay in bed at night. That I feel trapped inside my life."

"Is that a normal thing? To fight back the waves of a static lovers' dread?"

"I'm overwhelmed, I'm underfed."

"And yet I still cling. Cling to hope like snow on mountains.

"I'm a penny in a fountain. Just waiting on my luck to change."

What's Wrong With Me?

"I'm just staring at the ceiling. Can't describe this feeling I've got in my head. I'm out of body in my bed."

"I'm just searching up my symptoms, desperate to fix 'em. I'll do anything. 'Cause lately I've been spiraling."

"I'm not feeling like myself and nothing ever seems to help."

"Went to the doctor and she said I was fine. But every movie that I see makes me cry."

"It's like somebody put a weight on my chest."

"I should talk to a friend, but I can't get out of bed."

"My head is spinning and my stomach is sick."

"Say I'm in love, so it's hard to admit I can't eat, I can't sleep."

"I think you're what's wrong with me."

"I keep looking for distractions. Hope the feeling passes."

But I've got to say it's getting harder every day. And I can't seem to get around it."

"Head just keeps on pounding with the simple thought. What if this isn't what I want?"

"Tried meditation with a bottle of wine."

"I'm not feeling like myself. All amber lights and warning bells."

"I'm not feeling like myself. I'm not hiding it well."

Less

"I feel it again, edge of the bed. Body and head protesting."

"My stomach's in knots."

"I don't wanna talk. Let's just go to bed or something."

"Maybe it'll fix itself tomorrow. But I've been saying that like every night."

"You say you can't stand to watch me cry a minute more. So you do the noble thing and open up the door."

"If loving me means letting go and wishing me the best, well, then I guess I wish, I wish, I wish you loved me less."

"We tried to recreate our favorite date. But we didn't laugh much this time."

"Our trip to Big Sur only confirmed this isn't what it should feel like."

Maybe I'm a stubborn overthinker, but I've been thinking over this a lot."

"I could try convincing you they're just intrusive thoughts. But you've seen me truly happy so you know right now, I'm not."

"If loving me means crying on the curb at LAX, well, then I guess I wish, I wish, I wish you loved me less.

"If loving me means saying 'Babe, I think this is the end', well, I guess I wish, I wish, I wish you loved me less."

Expectations

"I met him at a party, I think he was on drugs."

"He wasn't smart or funny, I convinced myself he was."

"He had a great apartment and a car his parents bought."

"I thought that he was perfect, and now his number's blocked."

"Took a couple months, but now I am secure."

"I am so evolved."

"Now I ask for more and more and more and more and more."

"I won't settle for a guy with a fake job. He seems so desperate for loving, but, baby, I'm not."

"Gave my heart with zero stipulations. Now I take careful consideration."

"I'm not kissing any boy that is passive. Their indecision is painfully unattractive."

"Past mistakes are just new information."

"These days, I've got expectations."

"So I hit the new year like a single girl at a Vegas bar. Rocking my mini dress with a vodka cran' and an open heart."

"Yeah, I've got hope, yeah, I've got drive, I will not lose my faith."

"Don't think my future husband's at this bar in Silver Lake."

"But in a couple months a man will be procured."

"He will be evolved. And I will be adored."

"I've got real big expectations."

"She's got real big expectations."

Cigarette Smoke

"Cigarette smoke is a smell that I know. It clings to my clothes, and seeps into my bones."

"It's a real quiet house with the shower left on, five beers in the fridge, and the second car's gone."

"I regret you. And how long I stayed."

"I resent you. For not being brave."

"Tell me something honest so the memories turn dark."

"You said that I made loving look easy. 'Til I made it hard."

"Give me back my time and I will give you back your heart."

"I thought that we played the perfect couple. 'Til you didn't want the part."

"Some nights can be so fucking lonely. But it's better than begging for you to stand up for me, honeybee."

"I regret you. And what I let slide."

"I resent you. For taking her side."

"It's bone-dry, bitter and hollow. You'll be miles away tomorrow."

"Why'd I try at all?"

"It's bone-dry, bitter and hollow. You will never know my sorrow."

“I think you’re projecting.. you could have easily said excuse me and we wouldn’t be having this conversation at all. The real waste of space is between your ears.” Of course he didn’t know who this jack ass was and he was probably some fitness bro, stupid cage fighter on streams. He didn’t care.

As pissed off as Carter had become, he seemed to switch it off in an instant, his hand now running through his hair as he started to laugh while expressing his amusement.

"You got a real mouth on you, y'know that? I thought you were gonna be all talk for a sec, but nah. You're talking about live streams and lawsuits and shit? Damn, I'm almost tempting to fuck you up and prove I can cover a lawsuit ten-fold. But I gotta admit, I respect the 'no fucks' attitude." Carter let out a sigh. He glanced over his shoulder, watching the relief of his group when they realized he wouldn't be attacking Kisumi. The man folded his arms while studying the stranger.