from a lot of the songs on this album it sounds like tegan was seeing someone and the boundaries of their relationship were questionable, i.e. the other person wouldn't say whether they were dating or just friends, or something else, and probably said that she needed time to think about it. "you take a second take a second, take a year take a year" and so tegan, who really likes this person just wants to hear that they're not together so that she can move on with her life, rather than have the pain of wishful thinking. i think the same theme is continued into 'soil, soil', and ends with 'call it off'
from a lot of the songs on this album it sounds like tegan was seeing someone and the boundaries of their relationship were questionable, i.e. the other person wouldn't say whether they were dating or just friends, or something else, and probably said that she needed time to think about it. "you take a second take a second, take a year take a year" and so tegan, who really likes this person just wants to hear that they're not together so that she can move on with her life, rather than have the pain of wishful thinking. i think the same theme is continued into 'soil, soil', and ends with 'call it off'