He knew he had been looking over at Pam for a minute or so -- at least, that was his estimate. During that time, she had never looked back at him. So instead, he busied himself with imaginary work, which was something he did more often lately. It was especially bad today after his interview with the documentary crew.

"Pam and I?" he replied, trying to stall for time. "Um...we're friends. Yeah...we're just friends."

He knew they wanted to hear some kind of juicy details about what he and Pam did after work or where they went. The truth of the matter was they didn't do much.

It started out fine -- they had a nice date the day Jim came back from his interview in New York City. After that, though...well, Jim really couldn't put her finger on it. They had gone out a few more times, but one date every two weeks did not a relationship make. Maybe it was the fact that Karen was still working there. Maybe it was pressure from all the expectations they had built up over the years. Maybe it was just not wanting anyone else to know about their personal life so they just didn't have one. Whatever it was, it was worrying Jim. After all those years of pining for Pam and after dating someone else to try and forget her, why wasn't it working? And, even worse, what if it never did?

Jim looked up again at Pam sitting at her desk. She looked bored. He figured she was probably enthralled with a game of solitaire or something.

By the end of the day, he was once again getting anxious about saying good night to her. Some of the usual crowd had left, including Karen, which he thought would make him feel better. But the butterflies in his stomach were still going strong as he tried to think about what he was going to say to Pam on his way out the door. He was going to try and sound casual, asking about her weekend without forcing her to go out with him in case she didn't want that after all.

"Hey," he said, laying his briefcase on her desk next to the jelly beans. "Big plans this weekend?"

"Um, sort of...I guess," she stammered.

"Like what?"

"Well, I'm cleaning my apartment tonight."

He smiled down at her and laughed a little. "Sounds exciting."

She gave him a bit of a smirk in return. "I guess," she replied. "It's just that, you know, I'm starting this new art class next week and I need to set up an area for my painting supplies and stuff so..." She trailed off and Jim thought she was trying to come up with an excuse so she couldn't go out with him.

"Right. I'm excited to see what you do for this new class."

She smiled and looked down, a blush coming to her cheeks. "You'll have to come by and see it sometime."

"I will," he said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "So....yeah, I better get going."

"Oh, right. Well, have a good night."

He grabbed his bag and slung it on his shoulder. "You, too," he mumbled as he headed for the door.