Last night I heard my own heart beating
Sounded like footsteps on my stairs
Six months gone and I'm still reaching
Even though I know you're not there

Joel couldn't believe that Clem had had him erased. It crushed his heart to think that she thought so little of their relationship.

I was playing back a thousand memories baby
Thinkin bout everything we've been through
Maybe I've been going back too much lately
When time stood still and I had you

The pain caused by Clem's action had caused him to make the same choice. The debilitating pain would end soon. He wouldn't remember it.

Come back come back come back to me here like
You would you would if this was a movie
Stand in the rain outside til I came out

Wishing Clem would come back to him didn't help Joel, but it left him with a shred of hope that somehow, she would.

Come back come back come back to me like
You could you could if you just said you're sorry
I know that we could work it out somehow
But if this was a movie you'd be here by now

If Clem had just come home and apologized for her rash actions in staying out late, and taking Joel's car, and wrecking it, maybe he wouldn't have been so mean to her. The ''what if's" were killing him.

I know people change and these things happen
But I remember how it was back then
Wrapped up in your arms and our friends are laughing
Cause nothing like this ever happened to them

Joel was now dragging Clem through memories, old and older, trying to keep her with him. Their friends hadn't understood why they loved each other. They couldn't have known how they were together.

Now I'm pacing down the hall
Chasing down the street

Joel was chasing Clem down the street outside of his apartment as the world crashed around him. He wished the dream would stop so he and Clem could be happy again.

Flashback to the night when you said to me
Nothing's gonna change not for me and you
Not before I knew how much I had to lose

Clem had promised Joel that they weren't going to be a statistic of a couple who couldn't make it work. And yet, they were.

Come back come back come back to me here like
You would you would if this was a movie
Stand in the rain outside til I came out
Come back come back come back to me like
You could you could if you just said you're sorry
I know that we could work it out somehow
But if this was a movie you'd be here by now

If you're out there, if you're somewhere, if you're moving on
I'd be waiting for you ever since you've been gone
I just want it back the way it was before
And I just wanna see you back at my front door

Joel just wanted everything to be the way it had been before. Less fighting, of course, but if they'd paid more attention to each other instead of themselves, maybe it would have worked out better.

And I'd say

Come back come back come back to me here like
You would before you said it's not that easy
Before the fight, before I left you out
But I'd take it all back now

Joel wished he hadn't yelled at her. He took back everything mean he'd ever said to Clem. He wished he could tell her that.

Come back come back come back to me here like
You would you would if this was a movie
Stand in the rain outside til I came out
Come back come back come back to me like
You could you could if you just said you're sorry
I know that we could work it out somehow
But if this was a movie you'd be here by now

You'd be here by now
It's not the kind of ending you wanna see now
Baby what about the ending
Oh I thought you'd be here by now oh ohh ohh ohh
That you'd be here by now

Suddenly, Clem was at his door. They had figured out the manipulation they had each gone through, and now they were together, forever. Nothing would ever separate them again, and as he and Clem walked down the street together, he thought about what a good movie the story would make. No one would believe it to be true.