Scandal (Bons Vivants)
Scandal: you and me in a corner booth, treating closing time like a suggestion[1]
Vertigo and butterflies, just because you put your hand in mine
Two cars, side by side in the parking lot, carnations in the back seat while we sing
Harmonies to songs we thought might turn into our Courteney Cox connections [2]
Emily says the heart wants what it wants [3]
Mine wants to return to all the places
We were bons vivants [4]
Crooked: paths we took to find each other
Heartbreak and divorce and graduations
Leave the office early, cross the state line on the way home after dark
Shelter: all the drama melts away
I say the code, you answer with the password[5]
Pictures over telephones remind us of the bookstores that we haunt
Emily says the heart wants what it wants
Mine wants to return to all the places, trace my fingers down your back in all the spaces
We were bons vivants
WE CLOSE AT EIGHT!!! ↩︎
You know the one. If you're not singing the melody, and if you're like me, it's because you secretly want to be brought onstage to play rhythm acoustic and sing backing vocals. Is that too much to ask? Rhett? ↩︎
Emily Dickinson said it wistfully before Woody Allen turned it into a disgusting excuse. ↩︎
bon vivant. /bɔ̃ vivɑ̃/ noun (pl) bons vivants (bɔ̃ vivɑ̃) a person who enjoys luxuries, esp good food and drink Also called (but not in French) bon viveur (ˌbɒn viːˈvɜː) ↩︎
Now, dammit. ↩︎