NIKI - Before

[Verse 1]
Bb
You hid me in your dorm room, it was Halloweekend
Gm
I just flew across the globe, 22 hours just to see you
Eb
Just to barely fit on your twin-sized bed

And talk about your cool new friend
F
Who I never met, who you dated as soon as I left

[Verse 2]
Bb
Carolina autumn, it had been a year since I saw ya
Gm
Since we ended it, had a year to grow into the girl you always wanted
Eb
Now we’re holding hands

As not quite friends, but not quite lovers

Well, we’ll just pretend
F
You say, “It’s complicated to make amends”

Well, is that the way that we’re headеd, then?

[Pre-Chorus 1]
Eb
And you couldn’t answer me
Gm
Though you could pull mе in while I brushed my teeth
Bb
And let your hands both freely speak
F
Like I wasn’t ever gonna leave

[Chorus]
Eb Bb
You were all I’d ever known
Gm
And now I’m supposed to love you from a distance
F
Like it’s nothing, like it’s instant
Eb Bb
And you say, “Let’s just see where this goes”
Cm
And I don’t know how or why you seem just fine
Gm Ab
‘Cause I’m havin’ to grasp that you’re somehow not mine anymore
Gm Eb Bb
It’s so cruel how things are only almost like they were before

[Post]

(Ah, ah, ah)
Cm
Like they were before (Ah, ah, ah)
Gm
Like they were before (Ah, ah, ah)
Eb
Like they were before (Ah, ah, ah)

[Verse 3]
Bb
We walk downtown and it’s charming

You’re alarmingly disarming
Gm
Yeah, we’ve got 48 hours left before I fly back to my death
Eb
While you stay just fine and feel alive

South of the Mason-Dixon line
F
Where everyone closes shop at 9

Where you could somehow finally find

[Pre-Chorus 2]
Eb
What you were desperately looking for
Gm
Funny how you thought that was gonna be New York
Bb
With our chalkboard walls and slanted floors
F
Oh, we could’ve had that and so much more
Gm
Ask your new lover what it’s like to be given
Bb
A real fighting chance before you wish her, “Good riddance”
Eb F
Did anything ever really count, or was I just a two-year practice round?

[Chorus]
Eb Bb
You were all I’d ever known
Gm
And now I’m feeling stupid, you’re forbidden
F
They say yeah we were something, too bad we were children
Eb Bb
Oh, I don’t know where to go
Cm
And I don’t know how or why you seem just fine
Gm Ab
‘Cause I’m lookin’ at you and God knows you’re not mine anymore
Gm Eb Bb
It’s so cruel how things will never be the way they were before

[Outro]

(Ah, ah, ah)
Cm
Like they were before (Ah, ah, ah)
Gm Eb
It’s almost just like how it was before (Ah, ah, ah)
Bb
But it’s not anymore