To Be Reasonable

It was one of those mistakes, the kind your mother warns you against, the kind for which the internet ridicules you, and Amy knew it was one of those mistakes, but she did it anyway. She got his name tattooed along her collarbone because she wanted it to hurt as much as her desire. He always made smart observations in class, with a dazed look in his eyes and a half smile on his lips--sort of like he was high, but he didn't do that too often. Sometimes he held multiple pens between his teeth, so Amy thought it was love. He told her to be reasonable, so she got it tattooed in black ink, Times New Roman.

That summer he moved back to California.

Now Amy digs at the tattoo with a safety pin because she wants her insides to be as hard as scar tissue, and because she wants to remind herself how ugly mistakes can be. Don't worry: she ran a lighter over the pin first.