Laugh Alone

**Nobody to Tell**

Verse 1

I leave the television talking in the dark,

Laughing at a joke that never reaches my heart.

Made enough for two again, put half of it away,

Funny how a habit takes so long to break.

My phone lights up—a bill I haven't paid,

For half a second, thought you'd ask about my day.

Something made me laugh out loud at twenty after ten,

I turned to tell somebody, then remembered once again.

Chorus

There's nobody to tell when the good things come,

Nobody to call when the day goes wrong.

I can get through work, I can get back home,

It's the hours afterward that feel so long.

I don't need an answer, don't need someone to mend

Every broken part of me before the evening ends.

Just someone who would notice, someone who could tell

When I say I'm doing fine, I'm not doing very well

Verse 2

Went out some groceries just to hear somebody speak,

The cashier said, "How are you?"—first time all week.

I said, "I'm good," too quickly, then I stood outside,

Watching people find the cars with someone else inside.

Everybody's busy, and I know that life gets hard,

So I type another message, then erase it in the dark.

I don't want to be a burden, don't know how to say,

"I haven't felt like anybody's person here in days."

Chorus

There's nobody to tell when the good things come,

Nobody to call when the day goes wrong.

I can get through work, I can get back home,

It's the hours afterward that feel so long.

I don't need an answer, don't need someone to mend

Every broken part of me before the evening ends.

Just someone who would notice, someone who could tell

When I say I'm doing fine, I'm not doing very well.

Bridge

I miss being expected.

I miss "What time you home?"

I miss someone complaining

That I've been gone too long.

Now I can leave for hours,

Come back at half past two.

Nothing in this room has changed.

There's no one to come home to.

Final Chorus

There's nobody to tell, so I swallow the words,

Keep a whole life inside me that nobody's heard.

All the little things that never make the news,

Like I finally fixed the sink, like I still reach for you.

I don't need forever promised underneath the stars,

Just a voice across the table asking how things are.

Someone who keeps listening when the easy answers end—

Tonight I'd give so much to hear,

"Go on. What happened then?"

Outro

Something made me laugh tonight.

I picked up my phone.

It stopped being funny

When I had to laugh alone.