Four words on a game show

BABY, _  NEED YO_
 
Clue: four word phrase that articulates desire  
 
I spun the wheel  
as hard as I could
hoping for a fate change  
in the snick, snick, snick  
of the spinner bars,
and felt a cold stab  
of fear  
and disappointment  
when the wheel slowed
and the bankrupt wedge  
inched closer
 
you stood in a display case
with a tag  
filled with adjectives
that made me ache  
 
I didn’t know  
how much
I wanted  
to win
until I realized  
I probably wasn’t  
going to
 
the entire fucking  
multiverse must have inhaled
at the same time
because the  
ticker stopped
in the jackpot slot
and gave  
me a chance  
 
to change fate  
 
cold sweat cascaded  
down my asscrack
as the audience watched
with held breath  
at our long eye contact  
 
I never win
these types of games
 
Never.
 
I didn’t even know
what the hell I’d do
with you.
I hadn’t really planned
to bring home
something of  
this magnitude.
I was hoping  
for a trip to Tahiti  
and maybe
a new air fryer
 
We stared across the stage
eyes speaking scrolls for years  
and baby,
I have all this recently
vacant space
in my heart
 
I’d toyed  
with redecorating it  
with some self help paintings
Or maybe a hot tub
Or a reading nook
 
I hadn’t planned  
on adding you  
in this atrophied
little room.  
 
I licked my lips
and read your description
patient, sexy, brilliant, strong
as you leaned forward
your palms on the glass
nodding as I sought  
reassurance that  
you didn’t fit in the  
absent corner of my heart
 
you didn’t fit in that small space  
 
You fit the entire damn heart and  
you marched the decor
so flawlessly
it looked like
you were  
custom made
 

for me
 
I stood  
a single
phrase away  
from having you
turn poison to air
through every
pore of my being  
 
I nodded back at you
and  
 
made a choice
 
the letters turned on the board
I had to buy a vowel  
to solve the puzzle
 
to win the game
 
to dance around the stage
screaming  
whoooooooo
at top of my lungs
as I smashed open
your glass box
and jumped
into your arms
 
and  
the only two
remaining vowels  
 
were I
 
and U

BABY, _  NEED YO_

 
 
 
I didn’t need  
either to solve it
 
because baby
we were already there.
 
and I’d already won