nine-volt

written by evan young with megan neves telling him not to

smoke alarm chirped every forty-three seconds you were sitting on the kitchen floor i had a nine-volt battery in one hand like that was what you needed me for your mascara was on the sleeve of my shirt there was a cvs receipt stuck to my shoe you said, dont make this into a song i said, im not i was lying to you

the sink kept dripping the fridge kicked on neither one of us said what went wrong

i know how to change a nine-volt i know where the breaker lives i know which cabinet sticks when it gets cold and how hard you have to hit it but you said, dont leave and i had nothing clever so i sat down on the floor and stayed there

you wouldnt let me touch you for an hour so i counted scratches in the paint twenty-seven by the table leg three shaped kinda like the state of maine i wanted to say something enormous something worthy of how bad it hurt instead i asked if you wanted water you said no then drank half of mine

the sink kept dripping my foot fell asleep you looked at me once then back at your knees

i know how to change a nine-volt i can restring a guitar in the dark i can tell when the engine sounds wrong three exits before it wont start but you said, dont leave and i had nothing clever so i sat down on the floor and stayed there

at four-oh-six the smoke alarm chirped again you laughed not much just that ugly little snort you hate i said if this is symbolism, i fucking quit you threw a dish towel at my head missed we both watched it land in the sink and for some reason that was when i knew we were probably gonna make it till morning

i know how to change a nine-volt the new ones in the junk drawer now next to two dead pens a takeout menu and the screw we never figured out you never said its okay i never said forever you just moved your foot against mine and i stayed there

forty-three seconds nothing forty-three more nothing guess i fixed one thing