Chapter Text
Mike Pavlikovsky’s songwriting notebook:
Gas Station Bathrooms
Out half an hour
past your curfew
Dyin’ each other’s hair
in the gas station bathroom
Cheap snacks n’ shit dye
pop on the radio
Clinging to each other
“Those chips are awful for you,
ya know?”
Blue stalls
blue tears
blue raspberry hair
to match
“Mom’ll kill me this time,
I swear.
At least it doesn’t clash.”
Gas station bathrooms
Willow trees
in the churchyard
You tell me your secrets
I tell you mine,
crying is our scheduled
bonding time
You’re so quiet and kind,
even around our friends
But when I call you a bitch,
it’s a compliment
Cheer Queen, defending the King
of the Freaks?
What a fucking joke
She doesn’t give a shit about me
But the jeers are whispers
and the jocks stopped swinging
No more bloodstains on the lockers
What the fuck am I missing?
King of the school steps up,
pissed like I’ve got answers
Gum like a death knell
Pops ring out as he advances
“Shut the fuck up, Jake.”
Crown braids or a halo?
My savior either way
In the—
Gas station bathrooms
Willow trees
in the churchyard
You tell me your secrets
I tell you mine,
crying is our scheduled
bonding time
(music for a minute)
It’s October and
you’re babysitting again
Haven’t seen you in a while
these 2 weeks will never end
Yesterday, a note, slipped in my locker
“Meet me at the tree”
No question if I remember
You glow among the orange
Almost a spirit surrounded
by stones
You brought a picnic
I got you mums
They’re duller than my sweater you stole
Autumn was made for you,
how to phrase it?
Like somethin’ out of Poe
Ethereal, mystical
I declare
“Oh, how you’ve enraptured me so!”
A laugh like I’m joking
God, I wish you could know
(little bit of music)
Gas station bathrooms
Willow trees
in the churchyard
You tell me your secrets
I tell you mine,
crying is our scheduled
bonding time
(music for a minute after, then finish note)