California King Bed Lyrics Meaning

Although this song interpretation may sound superficial at first, I think that it's very legitimate:

This song is about two people who have a strictly physical relationship:
"Chest to chest
Nose to nose
Palm to palm"
These lines and a few other imply that Rihanna and the guy often sleep together.

The line, "We were always just that close," in my opinion, means that the two of them were never really closer than this physical relationship. In other words, they were physically close, but not emotionally close.

Obviously, though, she has legitimate emotional feelings for him, but she doesn't know how to express it because she doesn't "want to seem so weak," and she feels like there is a huge distance between them because although they are on the same page physically, they are "ten-thousand miles apart" emotionally.

At the end of the song, she says that "Maybe I've been California dreaming" because she was holding on to hope that he may love her back, but deep down she realizes that he doesn't love her in the same way that she loves him.