“You’re all embarrassed. So cute!”

“Oh. Yeah.”

Jimmy was embarrassed. Not because he loved a girl so much that he had gotten a tattoo of her name on his arm, but because he had spelled the word he wanted to get tattooed on his arm—wrong.

And now he was embarrassed all over again, because Sandrine had spotted his misspelled tattoo and was asking, “Who spelled it wrong?!”

“The girl who did my tattoo,” lied Jimmy.

“Well,” Sandrine scoffed, “you shoulda made her fix it!”

“Yeah.”

Sandrine could not believe what Jimmy had done to himself. And had to ask, “Jimmy, why did you want a tattoo that says ‘Villain’?”

Jimmy didn’t really want to answer, because the song about the guy who liked big butts had ended and there was no music playing, so the bar seemed quiet, and he worried that people might hear their conversation—even though the place was still jumping and no one would have heard them over all the chatter of the Moose Paddy patrons. So he just shrugged and said evasively, “’Cause.”

Jimmy’s evasion made Sandrine hungrier for an answer. “’Cause why?”

“Just ’cause,” said Jimmy, turning away from Sandrine.

“Just ’cause why?”

“Just ’cause…” Jimmy looked like he was gonna cry again, but he didn’t, and finally confessed. “’Cause when a guy’s got a girl like you … well, I just think that losin’ a girl like you, drivin’ a girl like you away—”

“Jimmy, you didn’t drive me away.”

“Well, I musta done somethin’! ’Cause you just disappeared on me.” Jimmy wasn’t crying, but it seemed like he was. “And whatever I did to drive you away—that’s a crime. And it should be punished. So I punished myself. I marked myself a villain so girls would stay away. So I’d never have to go through what I went through with you. Again.”

Sandrine was still. And silent.

She knew she had done Jimmy wrong.

But she didn’t realize what that wrong had done to him.

Suddenly, Jimmy desperately asked, “Can I kiss you?”

Sandrine winced and said, “No.” And then looked at the floor.

And Jimmy looked at the floor, too.

And there Jimmy and Sandrine stood, looking at the floor.

And they didn’t say anything for a while. And felt like they were standing in silence even though people were chattering and laughing and billiard balls were clattering and glasses were clinking.

And then Sandrine looked around her to see who might see what she was about to do. And when she felt like no one was watching, she leaned in and tenderly kissed Jimmy on the cheek.

She didn’t quite know why she had felt the need to do so. Maybe it was the only way she knew how to apologize. Or maybe it was her way of thanking him for letting her go—with his blessing.

Whatever it was—she immediately wished she hadn’t done it. Because Jimmy tried to turn Sandrine’s kiss on the cheek into a kiss on the mouth, and Sandrine pulled away and said, “Hey!” to let him know he was out of line.