[Verse 1]
Red eyes in your driveway
You swore you'd change
Then blamed me
Every sorry felt recycled
Every promise came up empty
You kept score like a scoreboard
Every favor turned to debt
I learned to walk on your anger
Till I almost lost myself
[Pre-Chorus]
You said I wouldn't make it
That I'd come crawling back
Funny how the night looks different
When you're not painted black
[Chorus]
I was better than this
Than the names that you were calling in the dark like it was nothing
I was better than this
Than the breaking
Than the begging just to keep your world from crumbling
Thought that love meant staying hurt
Till I finally learned
I'm worth more than your poison kiss
Guess I had to lose you first
To see I'm better than this
[Verse 2]
Met her on a Sunday
Quiet laugh
A steady gaze
She didn't need a prison
To believe that I would stay
She asks how my day is
And listens till I'm done (yeah)
Feels like opening a window
In a house with boarded suns
[Pre-Chorus]
You said I'd never find it
That what we had was rare
But peace is in the small things
Like fingers in my hair
[Chorus]
I was better than this
Than the names that you were calling in the dark like it was nothing
I was better than this
Than the breaking
Than the begging just to keep your world from crumbling
Thought that love meant staying hurt
Till I finally learned
I'm worth more than your poison kiss
Guess I had to lose you first
To see I'm better than this
[Bridge]
I don't hate you
I just see you
For the first time
Clear and cold (so cold)
You were teaching me to need you
She is teaching me to go
From "don't leave"
To "you're free"
From your storm
To her quiet street
[Chorus]
I was better than this
Than the names that you were calling in the dark like it was nothing
Now I'm better than this
In the safety of her arms where every word she says means something
Thought that love meant staying hurt
Till I finally learned
I don't have to live like this
You can keep your poison kiss
'Cause I found something pure and it
Proves I'm better than this (better than this)