(Intro – piano + clean guitar, spacious)
I was sitting in a booth
At the back of the restaurant
When your smile
came walking in
I thought to myself oh yeah
It’s just like the movies
I felt the chemicals
rush in
⸻
(Verse 1 – piano driven, soft drums enter halfway)
Then in walks behind you
A tall dark and handsome
I felt my chances
Growing thin
He leaned in to kiss you
And I had to look away
Feeling small
Compared to him
⸻
(Verse 2 – add bass + gentle guitar swells)
I stirred my coffee slowly
Like time would wait beside me
Steam rising
Like dreams in my head
You laughed at something
I knew I could’ve said
But every perfect line
Stayed unsaid
I traced the scratches
On that worn out tabletop
Like roads that
Fade in the rain
Wondering if courage
Is something we’re born with
Or something we lose
In the pain
⸻
(Pre-Chorus – harmony stack begins)
And I kept rehearsing
Words I’d never say
A thousand little chances
That slipped away
(Background vocals echo last phrase: “slipped away…”)
⸻
(Chorus – full arena lift, power drums + electric guitar + layered vocals)
You were never mine to lose
Still it felt like losing
Watching from the shadows
While the world kept moving
Somewhere between maybe
And what might have been
I watched forever
Walk in with him
(Gang harmony on last line)
Walk in… with him
⸻
(Verse 3 – pull back slightly, piano + strings pad)
Your hand found his
Like it always belonged there
Easy as breathing
Soft and sincere
I caught my reflection
In the window beside me
A stranger pretending
She didn’t care
The waitress asked softly
If I needed anything
I said just the check
And maybe the night
She smiled like she knew
That familiar ending
Where almost love
Never takes flight
⸻
(Bridge – emotional peak, key change optional)
But maybe this moment
Was never about you
Maybe it’s courage
I’m meant to pursue
Maybe the lesson
Inside all this ache
Is love isn’t timing
It’s chances we take
So I stepped outside
With the neon and rain
Heart wide open
To feeling again
(Big harmony swell on “again”)
⸻
(Final Chorus – biggest arrangement, sustained notes + ad libs)
You were never mine to lose
But you woke something in me
A quiet kind of bravery
I couldn’t see
Somewhere between maybe
And letting it end
I found the part of me
That might try again
(Ad lib vocal layer: “try again… try again…”)
⸻
(Outro – piano reprise, soft electric guitar sustain)
I walked past that window
One last time alone
But the night felt lighter
On the way home
ChucklesMcnerd
