Meredith had the upstairs room
She didn’t have a bed
Laura was across the way
Elizabeth was downstairs on the couch

There was an office space but
None of them had ever had an office
Tanya took the office space
For fifty dollars off her rent

And she hung Christmas lights
And Laura saved for her operation
And Meredith wrote songs
And Elizabeth waited for Michael to call
And told herself she wouldn’t call him first

Meredith rode the bus for hours
To play her songs at bars
Laura answered phones all day
Elizabeth was stuck behind a counter

Tanya kept the kitchen clean
And spent her morning sending resumes
She still hoped that she could find
A job that matched up with her dreams

And they joined up each night
And Laura told stories of harassment
And Meredith packed CDs.
And Elizabeth wondered why Michael had asked
Her to move when he didn’t ever ask to see her

They made it through week by week
And somehow paid the rent and
Waited for something to change
They were so good at waiting

They sat in t-shirts and shorts
In the October moonlight
Lit by a porch light and phones
In the endless summer of adulthood

When Tanya’s mother called the house
She asked how things were going
And if Tanya had yet thought
To walk her resume door to door

And why the landlord hadn’t fixed the broken screen or leaky faucet
They paid so much in rent
They shouldn’t let things like that go

And Tanya agreed to avoid a fight
And as soon as she hung up
She cursed and then she cried.
And Elizabeth came back from work and
Tanya said “do you think your place would hire me too?”

They made it through week by week
And somehow paid the rent and
Tried hard to make something change
They were so good at trying

They sat in t-shirts and jeans
In the November moonlight
Lit by their laptop screens
In the endless summer of adulthood

Michael had to be at work at 9 a.m. now
He knew she knew that
He knew she knew that
And she knew she couldn’t stay he couldn’t sleep when she was lying next to him
And because of that it felt
Like every night she asked if she could come over for just an hour
For just an hour
But his only hour.
And every weekend she asked him what they were going to do
But it was his only break.

Laura made it through eight hours
With voices in her headset
Telling her a list of failures
She could never overcome

Tanya didn’t get the job
She thought she might go back to school
Meredith’s father said he’d pay
For her to give up and come home

Elizabeth said to them all that night
It isn’t that I want Michael to change
He can do all the things he does
I just need him to choose
I just need him to choose
I just need him to choose to include me.

They made it through week by week
And somehow paid the rent and
Wondered why things hadn’t moved
When they were so good at moving

They sat in t-shirts and jeans
In the December moonlight
Lit by their fading dreams
In the endless summer of adulthood