1

Fair warning. Much of these review is just going to be me quoting lines I liked.

"But those were definitely her clothes scattered on the floor."

As a very much "they had sex on the first date despite not intending to have sex on the first date" person, I approve of this, and I like the idea of not quite regret, but a deeply different vibe between the bursting dam of the night before and the calmer stream of the morning after.

"She couldn't recall the last time anyone had offered to make her food. Well, that wasn't exactly true. With visions of rooftops and lawn chairs and grilled cheese sandwiches, she realized she couldn't recall the last time someone other than Jim had made her food."

I thought you did well capturing the oddity of this relationship that's between two people who know each other really well, but have huge parts of their lives they've never shared, and are in this new thing that they've also both been thinking about for years and is something they're both pretty sure they're in for the long haul already.

"But as she watched him leave his bedroom, looking back with a wink as he did, it occurred to her that she rarely saw him outside of work before this. She didn't really know what he dressed like when he wasn't in a button down and slacks, or what his favorite menu items were at any restaurant. She didn't know what radio stations he had preset in his car or what time of day he preferred to go grocery shopping. They were best friends--had been for years--and she felt like she knew him better than most people, but there was still so much to learn. And boy, did she want to learn."

Them not having seen each other much if ever outside of work is *less* my headcanon, but this is a heck of a paragraph.

"The movie ended with Guy asking Faye about the last time she had been decently kissed. Truly, truly, good and kissed. Jim turned to her and asked her the same question, jokingly at first, but growing serious as she quietly replied, 'You should know. You were there.'" WW, you are a murderer. You have killed me.

"They navigated waters they had been charting in their minds for years but had never ventured into." Gorgeous.

"She fell asleep to the sound of his heart and the feel of his skin, as she drew figure 8's around a freckle on his chest, wondering how she had survived an entire 28 years without him next to her." Also gorgeous.

There can never be too many takes on this conversation since we were wrongly denied it, but I like that this would come up fairly organically if she's in a space he was very recently sharing with someone else, and also that they haven't achieved this transcendent place where they're totally beyond all the flaws that kept them from getting here earlier. Like, Jim's still a little afraid of being vulnerable with her, her first instinct is still to avoid. But now they're in a place where they can get each other through it.

In conclusion, I liked this a lot. Kudos.

1

This was great! A very realistic morning after story. I can so very easily see that they would just get lost in the thrill of the first date and kind of forget everything else. You really portrayed it as a magical night for both of them.

Then in the light of dawn the spell starts to fade. It lingers over breakfast, but it's another note to Jim that makes the world crash down in again. That Pam's first thought is to run I think is in keeping. It's a known response and an easy decision to make.

What I really like is that Jim presses her on what's going on. In order to really do things right, they need to be honest with each other. Good way to start it out. Yeah there's still some hurt feelings to resolve. But finally they can be 100% open and honest with each other. It feels like since they were able to get those big questions out of the way, and find out it's not quite as hard as they may have thought it would be, the rest of these kinds of talks are going to go over a bit better.

Great descriptions of everything throughout.

1

That was absolutely beautiful. The sweetness in the beginning, the heartache, and the honesty — seems like a perfect (and so very realistic) morning after.
And one little thing:
"You should know. You were there." - love it!
Thank you so much for sharing!

1

Ughhhh this is the first thing I read after waking up and I think it's ruined me for the day. 11/10 for happy angst, ending sweet, and being overall adorable.

1

Oh WW, this was delightful and beautifully written. You captured the emotions of that morning perfectly.

1

Listen. I love everything you write. Adore it to no end. But this might be my favorite. Everything was perfect. The fluff, the steam, the angst. Their questions to each other, Jim still being able to read Pam so well, their banter. The note from Karen was a great way to make her realize that they needed to talk, needed to come clean about everything so they could start fresh. "You have no idea, Beesly." Kill me, please.