It’s all a game

I was the one who took you first,
Cold rink seats and a sweater for your purse.
You never knew the rules, the calls, the names,
But somehow we kept coming back again.
And maybe you thought it was just something to do,
But all those nights meant something to me and you.
It wasn't the ice or the score on the screen,
It was having a little world that was ours, just you and me.
Pre-Chorus
Now somebody new wants to take you there,
And I hate how much I even care.
Of all the things they could give you to do,
Why'd they have to pick the thing I gave you?
Chorus
'Cause it was never just a game to me,
It was all those years, it was history.
It was laughing in the stands when we didn't know why,
It was watching the puck and the time fly by.
And I know I don't own a place in your life,
I know I can't call dibs just because I was first in line.
But God, it hurts in a way I can't explain,
Watching somebody else walk into our thing
Like it was never ours in the first place.
Verse 2
And it's your birthday, so who am I
To tell you what should make you feel alive?
I'm trying to be happy, I'm trying to be cool,
Trying not to feel like a jealous fool.
But do you even know what this means to me?
Or was I the only one who thought we'd always be
The kind of friends who had their own little thing,
A place in the world that another couldn't bring?
Pre-Chorus
And you could tell me it's still ours,
That nothing's changed, that we're not drifting apart.
But I'd hear the words and I'd smile like I should,
While wondering if you meant them like I would.
Chorus
'Cause it was never just a game to me,
It was all those years, it was history.
It was laughing in the stands when we didn't know why,
It was watching the puck and the time fly by.
And I know I don't own a place in your life,
I know I can't call dibs just because I was first in line.
But God, it hurts in a way I can't explain,
Watching somebody else walk into our thing
Like it was never ours in the first place.

Bridge
Maybe I'm selfish, maybe I'm scared,
Maybe I thought you'd always meet me there.
Maybe I made a home out of something so small,
And now I'm afraid it wasn't a home at all.
And I hate that I'm jealous, I hate that I care,
Hate that I wish they wouldn't take you there.
I don't want to own you, I just want to know
That the years we put in still mean something, though.
And maybe that's the part that cuts the deepest—
Not that you're going, but that I can't keep this
Little piece of us the way it used to be.
And I don't know if that hurts you like it hurts me.
Final Chorus
'Cause it was never just a game to me,
It was the closest thing to certainty.

One little tradition in a world that changes,
One little constant through all of our phases.
And I know you can make new memories,
I know you have every right to leave room for somebody new.
But there's a small, ugly, honest part of me
That wishes this one thing still belonged to me and you.
And I won't make you feel guilty,
I won't ask you to explain.
I'll just sit with this feeling
That I can't seem to name.
Outro
So go watch the game, girl.
I hope you have fun.
I'll be here remembering
When it was just us.
And maybe years from now
It won't hurt quite the same.
But tonight, I can't pretend
It was never just a game.