The Third Drawer (Queerplatonic Love)

Lyrics

[Intro]
They have a word for this.
And a word for that.
And we just have… this room.
The soft glow of your laptop screen on the ceiling.

[Verse 1]
The top drawer is for friendship.
It’s full of ticket stubs for movies we saw with a group,
and phone numbers for emergencies.
Easy to open, easy to close.
The second drawer is for lovers.
Pressed flowers, locked diaries, the key to a different apartment.
It smells like perfume and promises.
We looked in both.
Our hands came out empty.

[Chorus]
But we have the third drawer.
The one that sticks a little.
The one with no label.
It’s where we keep the spare key you had made in 2018.
The mismatched mug you like for tea.
It’s not theirs, it’s not theirs.
It’s ours.

[Verse 2]
In here, there’s the charging cable you always forget.
The oversized grey t-shirt that’s officially mine now.
The menu from the Thai place we order from on rainy Tuesdays.
A smooth, flat stone from the beach at Porteau Cove.
You said it felt like a worry held long enough to be comfortable.
I knew exactly what you meant.

[Chorus]
And it all goes in the a third drawer.
The one that sticks a little.
The one with no label.
It’s where we keep the spare key you had made in 2018.
The mismatched mug you like for tea.
It’s not theirs, it’s not theirs.
It’s ours.

[Bridge]
My mother asked me what to call you.
I laughed and said your name.
She didn’t understand.
They want a map for this territory.
A word from a dictionary.
We tried ‘zucchini’ once, as a joke.
But the truth is the quiet weight of this blanket over our legs.
The comfortable silence when the show ends.

[Outro]
There’s no word for the way you know I need a glass of water before I do.
No name for this.
Just the quiet click of the drawer sliding shut.
It’s full.
It’s enough.