Insta Memory

[ Lyrics ]

We stayed for the story, not the love.

Matching birthday fits, same designer red,
I wore mine once, he still sleeps in his bed.
Planned the whole weekend like a film in reverse —
you know the plot, just not who’s hurting.
Rooftop at midnight, he held out a ring,
lights off in the background, but the flash made it sing.
No, he didn’t mean it, but he knew how it’d look —
two hearts in the skyline, one ghost in the book.

I saved every caption, every filter, every lie,
archived the silence between ‘I love you’ and ‘goodnight.’
We didn’t break up — we just ran out of shoots,
deleted the tension, kept the cute little truths.

We stayed for the story, not the love.
Two smiles on a hill while the truth choked above.
We stayed for the story, not the fights,
not the nights I cried into my phone lights.
Say cheese, say more, one more, babe… 
We stayed for the likes, not the life that we made.

Bali trip, no words, just the sea and a frame,
I posed by the waterfall, he played the same game.
Two days without speaking, but the grid stayed alive —
me laughing in towels, him leaning just right.
Back home, I cropped out the edge of the bed
where his side stayed cold and the sheets went unsaid.
Posted it as ‘Paradise,’ tagged with a flame,
while the fire between us had already died out in the rain.

I kept every screenshot of the life that we sold,
the love was a set, and I played the role.
Not for him, not for us — just the view count, the proof,
I fell for the image, ignored all the proof.

We stayed for the story, not the love.
Two smiles on a hill while the truth choked above.
We stayed for the story, not the fights,
not the nights I cried into my phone lights.
Say cheese, say more, one more, babe… 
We stayed for the likes, not the life that we made.

Was it real if it’s not saved?
Did I love you or just the shade
of us in the light, framed just right,
one perfect lie in soft focus light?

We stayed for the story, not the love.
Now I scroll back and wonder what I was so afraid of.
We stayed for the story, not the pain,
not the way love decays in a filtered frame.
Say cheese, say less, don’t act, don’t play…
I delete the whole album — and walk away.

We stayed for the story…