From the album Visitor (Deluxe)
This is about choosing the fantasy over the person. She knows he only reaches out when he needs something, knows the relationship is conditional, but she's already decided the imagined version is better than any real thing. The Dickens title gives it away: great expectations are about disappointment, but she's claiming the expectation itself is enough.
In my head, you lay down next to me / Kiss my lips, hold me carefully
The first two words tell you everything. This entire romantic scenario lives only in her imagination. The specificity of 'carefully' makes it more painful because it reveals exactly what she wants but isn't getting.
I say your name, but you don't get back to me / Till you got something you need me for
She states the problem clearly. He ghosts until he wants something. But instead of leaving, she builds an entire chorus around how he's 'the best I ever had.' She knows what's happening and stays anyway.
It's black and white, but I go back and change the plot / Just to have ya in the way I want
This might be the most honest thing she says. The situation is clear-cut, but she rewrites it in her head. She's not waiting for him to change. She's actively choosing delusion because the real version disappoints.
You exist inside my mind
Six words that undercut the entire song. Not 'you exist in my life' or 'you exist for me.' Just in her mind. The relationship she's mourning is one she invented.
If you can't be what I want / And the things you say are true
She parenthetically sings 'not true, not true' under this line. She's arguing with herself in real time. Even as she admits he can't be what she wants, she's rejecting the reality of it. The vocal layers show the split.
The title is the whole confession. Great expectations are about wanting something that never arrives. She's not hoping he'll change. She's already made peace with living in the version she controls. The tears dry, she testifies, and then she goes back to the same mental loop.