Pam Beesly took a deep breath and then pulling open the glass door walked into the lobby of the Scranton Business Park. It was her first day at her new job as the receptionist for Dunder Mifflin Paper Incorporated. She had moved to Scranton a couple of years back to take care of her grandmother. Her grandmother had passed away 2 months ago and the week after that the grocery store that Pam worked at had announced that they were closing and she was out of a job. Her grandmother had left Pam her apartment and so Pam began the search for jobs in Scranton. The opening for the receptionist at Dunder Mifflin had been the first job she applied for and even though the boss seemed a little bit weird, it seemed like an easy enough job, at least one that would pay the bills. She punched the button for the elevator and waited nervously for the doors to open. The ride to the 3rd floor was too quick and before she knew it she was standing in front of the door with Dunder Mifflin written across it in white, block letters.

She opened the door and tentatively stepped inside. The office was quiet, just the small hum of the computers and occasional beep from a fax machine. She stood there, hands twisting together in front of her, a nervous habit she had had since childhood. She could see the manager of the office through the window. He was sitting at his desk, but his door was closed and he was speaking loudly into the phone.

"Hey…" a male voice behind her startled her and she jumped slightly. She turned to see a tall guy with floppy brown hair and nice green eyes smiling down at her. "Sorry…didn't mean to startle you."

"Oh…that's okay." Pam said with a small smile.

"Oh wow. Well welcome then. I'm Jim….Jim Halpert." He extended his hand accompanied by another friendly smile.

Pam immediately felt the warmth from his hand spread up her arm, causing her to blush slightly. "I'm Pam…Beesly. It's nice to meet you."

"Well Pam Beesly, how would you feel about the official Dunder Mifflin Paper Company Scranton Branch tour?" Jim asked. Something about his tone, the spark in his eyes made her feel immediately at ease. She dropped her hands to her sides and looked up at him.

"Is that the official title?" she asked lightly.

His eyes crinkled slightly as another smile spread across his face. "Oh yeah…we're having tour brochures printed up next week. Here…you can set your stuff down here. This is the highlight of the tour…my desk."

"Wow…riveting…" Pam said. Jim looked at her in surprise and then let out a small laugh at her inability to cover the smile that spread across her face.

"You better take notes…I won't go over this again." Jim said with mock seriousness.

"Okay…you're right. I'm sorry." Pam said looking up at him innocently.

"Actually I'm sorry….because of what is coming next." He said in a low voice, moving a bit closer to her.

"What do you mean?" she whispered back.

"Just wait." He said mysteriously. Then he turned to the guy that was sitting in the desk next to his. He looked about the same age as Pam, maybe a bit older. His hair was parted in the middle, and plastered to the sides of his head. He had on huge glasses that took up his whole face and Pam had the feeling that she was in for something interesting.

"Dwight…" Jim said. "This is Pam…she is the new receptionist."

"Hi…nice to meet you." Pam said extending her hand.

"Do you have security clearance?" Dwight said loudly, casting a disdainful glance at her hand.

"Um…yes?" Pam said slightly confused.

"You hesitated. Who sent you? Who do you work for?" Dwight said slowly rising from his desk.

Pam just stood there, dumbfounded. Slowly she turned and looked up at Jim who was looking at her with a look of utter amusement on his face. She knew how to play this one.

"I can't tell you. It's a secret." she added in a hushed tone.

"You are not her superior, Dwight." Jim said matter of factly.

"I'm sorry….Dwight…was it?" Pam said feigning confusion. "I was told to report straight to the manager.

"Assistant to the Regional Manager." Jim whispered just loud enough to ensure that Dwight would hear him.

"Damn it, Jim." Dwight said pounding a fist on his desk. "What is your purpose? You add nothing to our conversation."

"Thanks for all your help. You're such a girl." Dwight mumbled, sitting back down at his desk, keeping a wary eye on Pam.

Pam covered her mouth with her hand to keep from laughing out loud. She followed Jim into the kitchen before a small giggle finally escaped through her lips. Jim quickly shut the door behind them and turned to face her.

"And that…was Dwight." He said laughing.

"Oh…my…" Pam said. "There are just no words to explain…all that."

"I must say…for a newcomer that was very well played." Jim said pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Why thank you." Pam said with a slight curtsy. Jim smiled down at her and when their eyes locked she once again felt a warmth spread through her body causing her to blush. She quickly looked away. "Please tell me that everyone else is…well not like that."

"Well let's see…" Jim said looking out the window in the door. "That…is the rest of the sales team. Stanley and Phyllis. They are pretty normal. Stanley seems to have a slightly abnormal obsession with crossword puzzles. Then over there…" he said gesturing, "…is the accounting department. Angela, Kevin and Oscar. Oscar is cool and Kevin is the only guy I know that can fit ten fun-size bags of peanut M & M's in his mouth at once."

"Wow…that's impressive." Pam said. "What about Angela?"

Pam looked at him, eyes wide and started to laugh again. This was turning out to be the best first day of anything that Pam had ever had.

The rest of the morning past quickly. She met with the boss, Michael Gary (as he pointed out at least 5 times) Scott and endured over half an hour of what Michael referred to as the 'Dunder Mifflin Scranton Branch New Employee Pre-Orientation Orientation' or DMSBNEPOO for short. When he finally led her out of his office towards her new desk, she smiled appreciatively at the sympathetic look that Jim cast her way. She spent the rest of the afternoon getting acquainted with the phone and computer systems. She ate a cup of yogurt at her desk for lunch and only had to deal with four visits from Michael and three weird encounters from the guy Jim had called Creed. Phyllis had come up and introduced herself, as well as Oscar and Devin. They all seemed nice enough, but Pam couldn't help but kick herself when she noticed that she was looking at Jim more times than would probably be considered normal. He was a good looking guy. Great smile and friendly eyes with just a bit of mischievousness behind them. She really appreciated how nice he had been to her and frankly she was a little surprised at how comfortable she felt with him. Pam wasn't usually an outgoing type of person. She had always been a shy, timid girl, hiding behind a book or sketchpad. She had always been nervous around boys and had never considered herself to be any good at flirting.

Before she knew it, it was 5:00 and the people around the office were packing up to go home. Pam was busy sending a stack of faxes, when she heard Jim's voice behind her.

"Have a good night, Pam." He said tapping lightly on the reception counter.

"Thanks. You too." Pam smiled, hoping that she was keeping her voice as a reasonable level. "See you tomorrow."

"Definitely." Jim smiled widely and then throwing his brown messenger bag over his shoulder disappeared through the doors. Pam watched after him for a moment before turning back to her pile of faxes. Once they were finished, she shut her computer down and bent to pick up her purse. That's when she saw it. A bright yellow post-it note stuck to the phone. She carefully picked it up and couldn't' control the smile that spread across her face as she read it.

Pam re-read the note again before carefully tucking it into her purse. She had the feeling that this was the just the beginning of an interesting ride

Pam could hardly wait for the next day at work. She had read his note again when she got home as she sat at her kitchen table, dressed in sweatpants, hair pulled up in a ponytail, the note on the table in front of her. How does she feel about pranks? She didn’t know quite how to take that, but she hoped that it was something they were going to do together. Pam stirred her tea and gazed aimlessly out the window. She felt weird. Wasn’t it unnatural to spend this much time thinking about a guy that you barely knew? Pam got up and went over to her stereo. She turned on some music and proceeded to clean her kitchen, hoping that if she kept busy she wouldn’t be alone with her thoughts.

When she lay down in bed later that night she tried to sleep, but all she could think of was the small, yellow post-it note that sat on her table and the potential of tomorrow.

Pam woke up early the next day. She quickly showered and then stood staring into her closet. One of these days, she thought, I am going to have to buy some new clothes. She finally selected a gray skirt and a light blue shirt, topping it off with a navy blue cardigan. She ran a comb through her naturally curly, reddish-brown hair and then pulled half of it up, securing it with a barrette. Then she looked at herself in the full-length mirror that hung on the back of her bedroom door. “Ugh…..” She muttered, taking one last look at herself before she went down the hall to the kitchen.

She made some tea and buttered a piece of toast and all the while she thought about his note. She sat down at the table and opened up a newspaper, but it was just words on a page and so she put it down again. It wasn’t like the note was really anything big, just a few friendly words from a co-worker. For all she knew he was like this with everyone. Before she knew it, it was time to leave for work. She slipped on her shoes, picked up her purse and went out to her car.

Pam’s heart leapt in her chest when she pulled into the Dunder Mifflin parking lot in time to see Jim climbing out of his car. He waved when he noticed her park in the spot next to him. She discreetly checked her hair in the mirror and then climbed out of the car.

“Hey!” he said, adjusting his messenger bag strap against his chest.

“Good morning.” She said pulling her coat tightly around her. It was a cold morning and she could see their breath lingering in the air.

Pam shrugged slightly, “I guess. I had nothing better to do.”

“Wow…Dunder Mifflin ranks above nothing. Impressive.” He flashed that great smile again and Pam felt her stomach flutter.

“I think you did.” Jim said with a smirk. “Come on. Let’s go. It’s freezing out here.”

Pam followed Jim towards the building, silently noting the way that he held the door open for her. He punched the button for the elevator and then turned to look at Pam.

“Oh. I’m really sorry to hear that.” he said genuinely.

“Thanks….” Pam said stepping into the elevator. “What about you? How long have you lived here.”

“Oh wow. You still live with your parents don’t you?” she asked.

Jim laughed loudly. “Luckily…no. I’m not Dwight.”

Pam smiled, trying to ignore the fact that their shoulders pressed up slightly against each other as he leaned forward to press the button. She opened her mouth to say something, when a hand appeared in between the closing elevator doors keeping them from closing.

“Jimbo and Pam....Pambo and Jim. What’s shake-a-lakin?” Michael said stepping into the elevator.

“Not much Michael. How are you doing?” Jim asked shooting Pam a glance that made her cover her mouth to stifle a laugh.

“Not really. Watched some baseball…went to bed pretty early.” Jim said stuffing his hands into his pockets.

“Grandpa….I am older than you and I had a hot date. What about you Pam?” Michael asked.

“I read this….” Pam started before Michael interrupted her.

Luckily they were saved by the ding of the elevator signaling that they had arrived at their floor.

“Oh…maybe some other time Michael.” Jim said as Michael hurried out of the elevator.

When Michael had disappeared into the office, Pam looked up at him and said, “He really does have the attention span of a five year-old doesn’t he?”

“Only on a good day.” Jim said with a laugh as he followed behind Pam into the office.

It was another mundane day; full of games of Solitaire mingled with phone calls and faxes. She was so absorbed in a game that she didn’t notice Jim come up and stand at her desk, his elbows resting comfortably on the counter.

“Want to see something cool?” he asked in a hushed voice.

“Definitely.” She said looking up at him.

“Ok good. Watch this.” He turned and went back to his desk. He began rifling through some papers for a few minutes before he turned to Dwight and said, “Hey…I misplaced my stapler. Could I borrow yours really quick?”

“Jim…how many times have I told you to keep track of your personal stuff. This is getting ridiculous. You ask for this almost every other day. One of these times…” Dwight froze, looking into his desk drawer. “DAMN IT Jim!” He yelled banging his fist on his desk.

“What?” Jim asked innocently.

Dwight reached into his drawer and grabbed something that Pam couldn’t really make out. “Stop putting my belongings in Jell-o. You are such a child.”

Dwight slammed a plate on his desk that was covered in a huge mound of lime green jell-o. Inside Pam could make out the outline of a black stapler. She burst out laughing, immediately covering her mouth with her hands when Dwight cast a glare her way.

“Dwight…you really think that I would be stupid enough to pull the same prank over on you twice? I think it’s a copy cat. If someone is brave enough to copy this idea…how long until they are copy much more….” Jim lowered his voice to a whisper. “…sensitive material?”

Dwight looked around suspiciously. “You’re right Jim. Tell no one that we have spoken.”

“Got it.” Jim waited until Dwight got up and walked off towards the break room before turning to look at Pam. She grinned at him and he held up his hand. Pam paused for a second before realizing what he was doing. She lifted her hand and they air high-fived before he turned back to his computer. Pam smiled at him for a few more moments before the phone rang, jarring her out of her thoughts.

She was sitting in the break room eating yogurt and reading a magazine when he walked in and went over the vending machine.

“So what did you think of that?” he asked quietly.

“Pranking Dwight 101.” He said with a shrug and a smile before walking back out into the office.

Around 2:00 Jim stood up and pulled on his suit jacket and grabbed his bag. He had a sales call to Wilkes-Barre and would be out the rest of the afternoon. He tapped his knuckles on the reception counter as he walked past.

“Try not to have too much fun while I’m gone.” He said grabbing his coat off the rack.

“It will be tough…” she blurted out, blushing slightly as soon as the words were out of her mouth. She took a deep breath and then said, “Hey…do you think that maybe we could go to lunch tomorrow? You know…as a thank you…for being so nice to me on my first days here.”

“It was just a fluke. Next week I’m going to be a total jerk.” Jim said with a smile. “Lunch huh? Sounds good, but only if it’s pizza.”

Pam smiled, “Pizza it is.”

“Alright then. See you tomorrow.” He waved and walked out the door.

Pam went around on cloud nine for the rest of the day. For the first time in her life she had actually executed something resembling courage. She was sure that someone like Jim wouldn’t even think twice about going to lunch with her. It probably would mean nothing to him, but for now she was excited.

Jim offered to drive the next day, saying that if she was paying for lunch the least he could do was drive, especially considering she had no idea how much he ate. They went to this local place called Cugino’s. They laughed and talked over a pepperoni and black olive pizza. She told him about her grandma and how she liked to draw. He talked about growing up in Scranton and his new niece. Pam loved the way that the conversation flowed so easily. She had never been this comfortable with anyone, except her family. They were talking about New York, Jim not believing that Pam lived so close and yet had never been there. She found herself thinking that this was the best date she had ever been on…even if it was just a lunch date. The cloud of euphoria that Pam found herself on quickly crumbled when she heard Jim say, “Yeah…my fiancé goes to New York all the time.”

“Your fiancé?” she managed to squeak out.

“Oh…” Pam felt like she had been slapped. He must have assumed that he had mentioned her before. Maybe he had and she had been so caught up with the silly crush in her head that she hadn’t heard it. “That’s really cool. When are you getting married?”

Jim cleared his throat and Pam wondered if she had stepped into something sensitive. “Sorry…I didn’t mean…to pry.” she whispered.

“No…it’s fine. It’s just kind of on hold for now…I mean…we’ve been engaged for a couple years actually. She is trying to focus on her career and…it’s just…” he trailed off.

A minute of semi-awkward silence passed before Pam decided to change the subject. “So…when do I get in on one of these Dwight pranks?” she asked, taking a sip of her Coke.

Jim smiled broadly, looking slightly relieved and said, “What do you have in mind?”

Pam tried to ignore the small ache that had started in her chest and began to write on her napkin. Too soon it was time for them to get back to the office. The rest of the day dragged on and Pam caught herself several times having to blink back tears of disappointment. When it finally reached five o’clock Jim walked out with her and waved before climbing into his car and driving away.

Jim glanced up at the clock and sighed. It was only 11:30 and he already felt like he had been at work for hours. He had no idea how he was going to make it until 5:00. He and Lauren had spent the weekend with her family at her parent’s cabin in the Pocono’s and even though they were both exhausted when they got home Sunday afternoon, Lauren decided to go into work and they ended up getting into a big argument because Jim had suggested that maybe she should stay home so they could spend some time alone together. The fight ended with her storming out and slamming the door, while Jim ended up falling asleep on the couch watching TV. Lauren was gone by the time he had woken up, but she had left a note on the fridge.

Jim smiled as he read the note and just like that everything was back to normal. Jim had met Lauren in high school. She was beautiful, with her long dark hair and big deep brown eyes. She had moved into town mid-way through their sophomore year, but had quickly become one of the most popular girls in school. She was a cheerleader and he played basketball and they hung out with a lot of the same people. She had asked him to the Sadie Hawkins dance their junior year and she had been his date to their senior Winter Formal. They were friends first and it wasn’t until school had ended that their friendship turned into something more. They had gone to the beach with friends after graduation and after a couple of drinks had ended up making out. But realizing that they each were headed in different directions at the end of the summer, they continued to hang out, mostly in a group of their friends and when August rolled round, she had moved to New York and Jim had gone to Penn State. They exchanged friendly e-mails every once in awhile and as they each kept in contact with some of their high school friends; they met up frequently over the summer after their sophomore year.

They kind of lost contact over the next year until the summer, when they had ran into each other at Gerrity’s, doing some shopping for their parents. Jim asked her out to dinner and everything went from there. About a month before graduation Lauren’s mom got cancer and Lauren moved back to Scranton to help take care of her, finishing her schooling by correspondence. Jim moved home after graduation and had gotten a job at their old high school as the assistant basketball coach. About a year later Lauren’s mom went into remission and Lauren was finally able to look for a job. She had gotten a degree in hotel and tourism management and quickly landed a job at the nicest hotel in Scranton. Jim proposed on their two year anniversary and they had gotten an apartment together. It was during that time that Lauren began questioning him about what he wanted to do with his life and where he was going. He had majored in English Literature at Penn State, but there wasn’t exactly a high demand for those kinds of jobs in Scranton. Lauren had a good job and still wanted to be close to her mom, so Jim began searching the want ads and a week later he was employed as a junior salesman at Dunder Mifflin.

Now, here it was two years later and they were still in Scranton. Jim, a senior salesman with a great client base, mostly content with the routine that was his life and Lauren, a senior manager at the nicest hotel in town, yearning for something more…high paced than Scranton. She traveled quite a bit and had been talking more and more about them moving to New York or some other major city to further her career. They had settled into a comfortable routine of take-out on the weekends and kissing goodbye outside the airport or train station when Jim would drop her off before she went out of town. She always greeted him with a big hug and then would tell him all about her trip and the meetings she had gone to and the pros of living somewhere other than Scranton. He would tell her about his latest encounters with Dwight and she would laugh and then say something about him taking his job more seriously so he could move up in the company. Sometimes Jim wondered if she was tired of him, if he’d ever be enough. Then he would look at the pictures of them found scattered around their apartment and would think of all that they had been through together. He had been the one whose shoulder she had cried on in those dark hours when it seemed like her mom was never going to get better. She was the one that held his hand at his grandpa’s funeral. They had a history together and there was no reason to let that go. So he just smiled when she told stories about New York and how great it would be to live there and figured he’d follow her where she needed to go.

It was at times like this, when time stood still at Dunder Mifflin, that moving to New York sounded like a good idea. Actually, going anywhere sounded like a good idea to Jim. He sent an e-mail to a prospective client and then stood up and walked over to reception.

“Hey.” He said, crossing his arms across the top of the counter.

“Hey.” Pam said looking up from her computer. “Did you have a good weekend?”

“So did you watch Trading Spouses last night?” Jim asked.

“No…I have a life.” Pam said brushing a curl away from her face.

Pam laughed and started to say something when they were interrupted by Michael.

Jim shot Pam a look that said, ‘Help Me’ before following Michael into his office. He turned down Michael’s offer to pick the health care plan and quickly escaped back to his desk. Michael had eventually put Dwight in charge of picking a plan and consequently a mere twenty minutes later, the office was in a frenzy about Dwight’s decision to cut health benefits to the bare minimum. Even though Dwight was being more annoying than usual, Jim was actually slightly enjoying the commotion because at least time was passing a little faster. An hour later, Michael was off “planning his surprise” and Jim was standing at reception with Pam working on Dwight’s disease survey. He looked over to see Pam’s head bowed over her paper and she was writing feverishly.

“Wait…what are you writing?” Jim asked. “Please tell me you’re not writing Ebola or mad cow disease.”

Pam looked at him curiously and he smiled as he picked up his paper and said, “I’m already suffering from both of them.”

Pam laughed and Jim couldn’t help but notice the way that her smile lit up her face. He quickly shook the thought from his head as she said, “I have been making up my own diseases.”

“Fantastic.” He said leaning over the desk to get a look at her paper.

Jim shook his head, “I thought you were making these up. That is spontaneous dental hydroplosion.”

Pam smiled again. “Nice one…” she said before turning back to her paper.

The rest of the day passed quickly. Between getting interrogated about his knowledge of Dwight’s love for Count Chocula and waiting around for Michael to figure out a way to get out of sharing his “surprise” the next time he looked at the clock it was finally time to go home. Pam was already in her car by the time he got out to the parking lot. She smiled and waved and Jim watched her red tail lights disappear down the road, confused by the slight flutter that he felt in his chest.

“Hey…you coming down?” Jim asked bending over slightly to tie his shoe.

“Yeah…I’m just forwarding the phones.” Pam said, trying not to be obvious in the fact that her eyes kept drifting towards him. She had never seen him in casual clothes before and it was not helping the fact that she was trying her hardest to not be attracted to him. Despite the constant talks that she had given herself over the past few months since she started working at Dunder Mifflin, she still couldn’t help but notice the way that his blue t-shirt stretched across his broad shoulders and the firm muscles in his legs.

“Yeah, you’ll need it.” Pam said turning to log off her computer.

“Whoa! Is that trash talk? From Pam?” Jim said surprised.

“I’m just saying…you don’t really seem like the competitive type and I don’t really want to risk my free Saturday working because you lost the game for us.” Pam said with a smile.

Pam felt her heart skip a beat and knew that her face had flushed slightly. She knew that it didn’t mean anything. It was just playful banter; it was part of the joking, friendly relationship that they had quickly begun to perfect. Jim had become her closest friend in the office; in fact he was her only friend in the office. Some of the others were nice enough, but the drudgery of the days had apparently stolen any spark of life from them, at least from 9-5. They were mostly okay outside of work. They had all gone out for drinks one Friday after work. Pam had kind of hoped that it would be an opportunity to meet the woman that had captured Jim’s heart, but she was even happier when he had shown up alone. He had sat next to her at the table and they spent the evening laughing over beers and trying to throw peanuts in Dwight’s glass when he wasn’t looking. She had gone home that night giddy with an excitement that was soon replaced by the realization that what she felt for Jim could never progress to anything more. She was just going to have to be happy being his friend. She went to put her keys in her purse and her hand brushed against something soft. She pulled it out and laughed when she saw that it was a cocktail napkin from the bar, on which Jim had drawn a rough caricature of Dwight holding a light saber. She traced her fingers carefully over the drawing before pulling open the drawer on her nightstand. She placed the napkin inside the drawer, on top of a small yellow post-it note and then went to bed.

Now she was sitting on a folding chair next to Angela watching the basketball game and when Jim ran past her, his sweaty hair sticking to his forehead and smiled, she knew that she was in trouble.

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Jim finished tying his tie, zipped up his red gym bag and then running a hand through his hair, opened the bathroom door and stepped out into the office. He walked over to his desk and threw his bag next to the basketball that was underneath. He sat down and stretched his arms over his head. Other than Michael succumbing to the intimidation by the warehouse guys which led to the office having to work on Saturday, he thought the game had gone well. He had played basketball in high school and college and enjoyed it whenever he got to play. He was fiddling absentmindedly with a pencil when a ding on his computer signaled an instant message.

Jim glanced over at Pam and smiled. They had been exchanging IMs since soon after Pam started working at Dunder Mifflin. He realized that he had begun to look forward to that exchange between them. Jim was sometimes surprised at how quickly they had become friends. Pam was really nice and funny. Plus, she was the only other one in the office that saw the humor in what went on every day and was willing to help him play on that. He leaned forward in his chair and began to type.

Jim looked up from his desk over at Pam and smiled as she winked slyly at him and then ducked her head. She was pretty, very pretty Jim had noticed when she first started. He liked that it wasn’t in an obvious, overpowering way. She has a great smile and pretty eyes, he thought to himself as he saw her smile at something that was on her computer screen. His thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing. Jim quickly cleared his throat and looked away. He was engaged. He was pretty sure that it was against all rules of seriously dating/being engaged to someone to be thinking about the things you liked about another girl. He turned in his chair slightly so that he couldn’t see her directly and picked up his phone.

“Hey…” the voice on the other end said quickly. It was Lauren. Jim turned further in his chair so that his back was all the way to Pam.

“….Yeah I know…it needs to be faxed before 5.” Jim heard Lauren say and then waited while a voice in the background responded. “Sorry…you were saying.”

“Nothing…I’ve been busy too.” Jim said picking up his pencil and spinning it around in his fingers.

Jim took a deep breath and said, “Yeah…whatever. That’s fine. I’ll just grab some take out.”

“You too.” Lauren said and then the phone went dead. Jim hung up the phone and then turned back to his computer screen. His instant message icon was flashing and he clicked to open it.

Jim laughed to himself and glanced over at Pam again, nodding in approval. She flashed him another smile and then turned back to her computer. Later that evening after everyone else had gone home for the day, they sat together on the floor by Dwight’s desk carefully gluing all of his pens and pencils into his pencil cup. Jim smiled as he watched her, brow furrowed in concentration as she applied super glue to the eraser of a pencil and then firmly stuck it to the bottom of the of the cup.

“He might try to use his wizarding mind powers to loosen them.” Jim said taking the tube of glue from Pam. As she handed it to him, her fingers grazed lightly against his and he felt that weird flutter again. Her eyes darted up to meet his and she pulled back quickly.

“Sorry…” she mumbled before turning away to grab another pencil.

“No problem…” Jim said, concentrating more than he should on squeezing a drop of glue out of the tube.

After a few minutes of slightly awkward silence Jim cleared his throat.

“So tell me more about Pam Beesly.” He said firmly sticking another pencil into the cup and then holding it up straight while it dried.

“Yeah…” Jim noticed that Pam seemed slightly timid when she answered him. “I don’t know. I did some drawing in college and I…I don’t know. I really like to do it.”

Jim laughed, “You remember that?”

This time he was positive that he saw a blush spread across her face.

“Well…it was so lifelike…” she said seriously, but he saw a small smile spread across her face as she looked back down at the pencil cup.

“Did you know that Dwight lives on a beet farm?” Jim said after a few minutes of silence. Pam had been taking a sip from her Coke and almost did the classic movie spit take. She started laughing and coughing at the same time.

“What?” she said when she finally caught her breath.

“I can’t believe you kept that from me!” she said. “I don’t know if I can forgive you for that.”

“I’ll buy you a bag of chips.” Jim said.

Pam thought for a minute, exaggeratedly scratching her head. “French onion?” she asked after a minute.

Jim looked up and smiled widely at her as their eyes locked for a few moments. He cleared his throat and that seemed to break the trance long enough for Pam to look away. A few minutes later she held the pencil cup up triumphantly.

“Look at that…” Jim said, twisting the cap back on the glue.

“Nice work.” She said laughing as Jim gave her high five. Pam stood up and placed the cup back on Dwight’s desk.

“Tomorrow should be fun.” She said walking back to her desk and grabbing her coat and purse.

“At least we have something to look forward to.” Jim said picking up his messenger bag and nodding his head towards Dwight’s desk.

They walked out to their cars, Pam holding her sides as she laughed at Jim’s impression of Dwight finding his now useless pencil cup. They stood in the parking lot for a few moments, neither quite wanting the evening to end.

“Guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” Pam asked finally, wondering briefly if Lauren knew where he was.

“Yeah…” Jim said. “Stupid Michael.”

Pam laughed again and then waved slightly before turning and walking towards her car. She waved again as she pulled out of the parking lot, but didn’t look in her mirror to see him still standing in the same place, watching after her.

Jim took a deep breath and made his way to his car. “I’m such an ass” he thought to himself as he realized that he had just spent the evening with another woman and even though it was completely innocent and they were just friends, he hadn’t thought of his fiancé once. He drove home deep in thought and later as he fell asleep it was a pair of green eyes, not the familiar brown ones that he saw in his mind.

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Pam walked into the office right before 9:00 Saturday morning. Almost everyone was already there and Michael was ranting about something. She sighed as she sat down at her desk and bent to put her purse on the floor. The sigh turned into a smile as she straightened up to see a bag of French onion sun chips sitting on her keyboard, along with a post-it note that read,

No sooner than five minutes after she read the note, she heard a loud bang and Dwight yell, “Damn it Jim.”

She looked up and stifled a laugh as she saw Dwight holding his cup by the pencils and banging it on the desk to try and dislodge one. Jim was staring intently at his computer screen and after Dwight had disappeared into the kitchen, pencil cup in hand he snuck a look at her and they high fived quickly before Dwight could come back out and catch them.

Unfortunately the pencil prank only provided distraction for a little while and the regular mind-numbing atmosphere had returned. The sound of an IM popping up on her computer screen, caused Pam to realize that she had been staring off blankly into space for who knows how long.

Jim smiled as he glanced over at Pam. He was beginning to think that there was much, much more to this girl than she let people see.

Pam looked up at Jim and smiled softly as she caught his eye. She could see by the look on his face that this was clearly a memory that was special to him and she was grateful that Jim would share something that was so personal with her. Unfortunately, their game was detained when Jim got a call from a client. While he was on the phone Michael came out and announced that corporate wasn’t going to be able to spy on them and he was going to stand up for his employees and let them go home. By the time Jim was off the phone the office was empty. He grabbed his coat and bag and walked out to his car. The weekend was uneventful. Jim and Lauren went to her parents house for a BBQ and then got into an argument about the fact that Jim wanted to leave early to watch the Phillies game with his brother. He ended up meeting his brother at Poor Richards and then crashed on the couch when he stumbled in around 1:00 AM. When he walked into the office Monday morning he had a killer headache and groaned when he saw Dwight cleaning out his keyboard with Q-tip and rubbing alcohol. He hung his coat up and turned to walk to his desk. Pam wasn’t at reception, but what he saw there made him stop and smile. On the counter next to the reception plaque was a little plastic container…filled with jellybeans.

“So…” Jim said leaning over the reception desk after taking a jellybean from its container. “You ready for tonight?”

“Just make sure that you don’t.” Jim said, giving her a quick wink before grabbing another jellybean and heading back to his desk.

Pam watched him over the top of her desk for a moment before turning back to her computer. The past few months Pam had spent most of her works days split between playing Free Cell and talking to Jim about pranks they could play on Dwight. She had decided that it could be okay being Jim’s friend. He was such a nice guy and made her laugh. The conversation was usually kept light, but it was on the rare occasions that it crossed into something more personal that made Pam realize just how important he was becoming to her. She still had yet to meet…or even see Lauren. She had talked to her on the phone a few times, but it was only to take messages if Jim wasn’t at his desk. She had been pleasant enough, but Pam still found it a bit strange that with as much time as she spent talking to Jim he had only talked about her a handful of times. Pam knew that she worked for a hotel and that they had met in high school, but that was about it. She decided not to push the issue, thinking that maybe Jim just preferred to keep his work life separate from his home life and since she was technically a “work” friend he was under no obligation to share that stuff with her.

Pam’s most recent Free Cell streak was interrupted by Michael coming out of his office and walking up to her desk.

“Pam-a-lama ding dong…” he said loudly. “Since tonight is your first Dundie awards, I feel that it is my duty as your boss/friend to take you on a tour of past Dundie winners.” He motioned for Pam to follow him and then headed towards Jim’s desk. “Here we have Fat-Jim Halpert. Hey Jim, why don’t you show Pam your Dundie awards.”

“Oh I can’t.” Jim said turning in his chair to look at Michael. “I keep them hidden so that I don’t get cocky.”

“Oh great idea…” Michael said clapping Jim on the back as he moved on to Dwight. Jim glanced at Pam and she smiled smugly before turning back to Michael.

“I keep my Dundies in a display case above my bed.” Dwight was saying to Michael. Pam heard Jim scoff softly behind her and she had to cover her mouth with her hand so Dwight couldn’t see the huge smile on her face. Luckily Dwight’s comment provided Michael with enough of a distraction that she was able to slip back to her desk. Unfortunately, twenty minutes later Michael was back at her desk with a large box full of unlabeled video tapes. Pam was hoping that if she ignored him he would just go away, but he just pushed it closer and closer to her until she looked up from her computer and asked, “Can I help you with something Michael?”

“Okay….” Pam interrupted. “It’s fine. I’ll do it.”

Pam looked into the box at the stacks of video tapes and rolled her eyes before grasping the box and heading towards the conference room. Halfway through the third tape Pam looked up to see Jim standing in the doorway, clutching a can of Coke in his hand.

“Here…” he said handing the can to her. “Thought you could use a break.”

“Thanks…” Pam said taking the can from him. “So this is the Dundies huh?”

“Yep.” Jim said looking toward the TV. “Oh this one is the best one. Michael does his Michael Jackson impression and then Kevin sits in front of the camera for the rest of the night.”

“You’ve seen these?” Pam asked, opening her soda.

“Wow…” Pam said. “This is quite the extravaganza.”

“It’s Michael. Would you expect anything else?” He said and then quickly turned to look out the door as his phone started to ring. “See you later?”

“Yeah…thanks.” She said holding up the soda can. He smiled and then walked back to his desk.

Fortunately Michael told everyone they could leave half an hour early in order to ensure that they would be relaxed and ready to “party”. Jim was on the phone when Pam grabbed her coat from the rack. He looked up and waved slightly before turning back to his call.

The Dundies were to start at six and Pam was glad for the chance to run home and freshen up. She changed her shirt and put on some perfume and even added a little lip gloss, though she wasn’t quite sure why she was trying so hard. She ended up getting to the restaurant ten minutes early and so she sat in her car listening to the radio until she saw Michael and Dwight pull up and walk into the building carrying two huge boxes. She waited until she saw Phyllis, Oscar and Kevin all pull into the parking lot. She climbed out of her car and followed them inside. By ten after six the whole office and a lot of the warehouse crew had shown up, but Jim was nowhere to be seen. Dwight was checking the volume control on his keyboard and Michael had somehow convinced the manager to let him back in the waiter station for costume changes.

Pam was sitting at a table with Phyllis when Pam saw Jim walk in through the door of the restaurant. Pam could see someone with dark hair standing behind him and so she straightened up a little to try and see who it was. Jim caught her eye and waved as he made his way towards the table. A girl with long dark hair was behind him and Pam’s breath hitched slightly. She was beautiful, tall and thin. Just the type of girl that had always intimidated Pam and just the type of girl that she assumed Jim would go for. Then her heart fluttered when she saw the girl wave and then sit down at the bar, kissing a blonde guy firmly on the lips. Then Jim was in front of her and she tore her eyes away from the couple at the bar, overly relieved that the girl wasn’t Lauren.

“Hi Jim.” Phyllis said. “Where’s Lauren?”

Pam dared to glance up at him when she heard the question. Jim’s eyes darted towards her and then back to Phyllis. She sensed a twinge of displeasure in his voice as he said, “Oh…um…she had some things to finish at work. She might stop by later.”

“Well that’s too bad.” Phyllis said cheerily. “I was looking forward to seeing her again. Well then you’ll have to sit with us.”

“Sure. Thanks.” Jim said, the familiar smile crossing his face as he pulled off his coat and sat down in the chair next to Pam. “Have I missed Michael’s intro yet?”

“Nope…but Dwight is playing the cue music…so I assume it will be soon.” Phyllis laughed. “Let me get you guys a drink…on me. We’ll probably need it.”

Pam’s head jerked slightly as Jim nudged her with his elbow. “Ready for this?”

“I’m a fast learner.” Pam smiled as the waiter set a pitcher of beer and three mugs on the table. She quickly grabbed one hoping that it would help settle the nerves that were bubbling in her stomach.

The Dundies progressed just like Pam had seen in the videos. Michael made a series of jokes that would not be considered appropriate in any setting. She had finished her whole beer and hadn’t even realized that she had poured herself another mug full. She was halfway through it when Michael started handing out the Dundie awards. She was starting to feel slightly buzzed which made her laugh loudly as Michael awarded Ryan the temp with the hottest in the office Dundie and Angela the accountant with the ‘tight ass award’. Her buzz was momentarily killed when she heard Michael say, “This next award goes to everyone’s favorite salesman…who also happens to have a very hot fiancé. The ‘How did he bag her?’ award goes to Jim Halpert.” Pam looked at Jim and look that flashed across his face made her heart drop. He pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows at her and then stood up and made his way towards Michael.

“Where is your hot little fiancé?” Michael asked as Jim took the Dundie from him.

Jim didn’t answer, just clapped Michael on the shoulder and then sat back down next to Pam. She looked worriedly at him and it was almost as if he could sense it because he leaned in close enough for her to smell the spicy scent of his aftershave and whispered, “He’s loosing his touch. This is the second year in a row that I’ve gotten this award.”

His tone was light and she could tell he was joking, but there was a slight, almost sad look in his eyes. She lifted up her mug and said, “Well here’s to being unoriginal.”

Jim smiled, clinked his glass with hers and turned his attention back to Michael. The rest of the Dundies past by in a haze. Pam couldn’t help but wonder what the story was with Jim and Lauren. From what she knew of him Jim was an amazing guy. He was funny and nice and a gentleman. She remembered how sweet she thought it was when she saw Jim hold open the door for people or the time he walked Phyllis to her car with his umbrella when it started down pouring. What kind of woman would be crazy enough to let a guy like him sit here by himself? The feel of a hand on her shoulder broke her out of her trance.

“You okay?” Jim asked softly.

“Oh yeah! I am fantastic!” Pam said. Even though she was a more than a little drunk she could tell that she was overcompensating by speaking too enthusiastically. Her voice sounded really loud and she winced slightly. She looked around noticing that people had started to clear out. “Oh! It’s over! I missed it! Ah…bummer.” She tried to stand up off her stool and ended up slipping and falling to the floor.

“Whoa!” Jim exclaimed as she slipped down. His hand shot out and grasped hers. “Are you okay?” he said pulling her back to her feet.

“Oh yes! I am great!” she said smoothing her skirt.

“There is no way that you can drive like this.” Jim said. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride home.”

“Yes…I am. And you’re drunk. Come on.” He grabbed her coat and purse and handed them to her. Then he placed one hand lightly on her elbow as he guided her out of the restaurant and towards his car. Even in her slightly inebriated state she could feel the warmth of his hand on her arm and she could feel a flush steal across her face.

The ride to her house was quiet, the silence broken only by the faint sound of the radio and Pam’s occasional “turn here”. When he pulled up in front of her apartment he quickly hopped out of the car and hurried to her door to open it. He helped her out and she couldn’t help think that he must do this for Lauren all the time. He helped her to her door and as he turned to walk away she stopped him by throwing her arms around his neck and pressing a quick kiss to his lips.

“Thank you…” she said softly before unlocking the door and disappearing inside, leaving a stunned Jim standing on her front step.

Jim grabbed his coffee mug from the counter and then sat down at the kitchen table with the newspaper spread out in front of him. He slowly sipped his coffee while he skimmed over the sports page. He looked up when Lauren walked into the kitchen.

“Hey…” she said grabbing a mug from the cabinet.

“How was your thing last night?” Lauren asked taking a banana from the bunch that sat on the counter and sitting down next to him at the table.

Jim stiffened slightly, but Lauren didn’t seem to notice. “It was fine. Just what you’d expect.”

“So when did you get home?” Lauren asked taking a section of the paper.

“Around 9:30. I gave one of my co-workers a ride home.” Jim said glancing over at her.

Jim forced a little laugh and then said, “Well yes he did, but I didn’t take him home. It was actually Pam.”

Lauren didn’t even look up from the article she was reading as she said, “The receptionist?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? You guys are friends right? It was nice of you to help her.” Lauren glanced at her watch and sighed heavily. “Oh crap. I have to go. See you tonight.”

Then just like that the conversation was over. Lauren grabbed her keys, gave Jim a quick kiss goodbye and was out the door. Jim heard the sound of her car starting and then let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Part of him thought that he should tell Lauren about what had happened the night before, but it had been so quick that by the time he climbed into bed he couldn’t even be sure that it had really happened. Plus, Pam had been drunk and there was a very high possibility that she was just trying to give him a friendly kiss on the cheek and misjudged her target. Or she had forgotten it entirely and bringing it up would just make her feel embarrassed and he didn’t want that. He decided that it would be best to wait and see if she said anything before he risked getting in a fight with Lauren over something that didn’t mean anything. However, a thought struck him as he climbed into his car a few minutes later. If the kiss wasn’t that big of a deal…then why had he spent the last ten hours thinking about it?

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Pam pulled into the parking lot and was instantly relieved that she didn’t see Jim’s car there yet. Most of last night had been a blur to her, but two Aspirins and a gallon of coffee later she had been jolted back to sobriety and the memory of the kiss had come rushing back. She wasn’t quite sure what had happened leading up to the kiss, but she clearly remembered the brief instant that her lips were pressed softly against his. His lips had been soft and warm and before she could stop herself she was smiling at the memory of it. She turned slightly just as the doors closed behind her just in time to see his red Corolla pull into the parking lot and that’s when it hit her like a giant, flashing Stop sign. He was engaged. Holy crap…he was spoken for, not available, taken…and she had kissed him. She had crossed a line and had taken advantage of the friendship they had begun to develop. Her heart began to pound in her chest as she was bombarded with a million thoughts at once. Was he mad? Did he tell Lauren? Would he even look at her…let alone talk to her again? She stood there frozen in place, when she saw him approaching the door, head down, iPod in one hand and adjusting the headphone in his ear with the other. He hadn’t noticed her yet and she snapped out of her trance quickly enough to duck into the stairwell.

She sunk down on the steps, head in her hands as she tried to sort out the questions racing through her mind. What should she say? She should approach him? Should she wait to see if he approached her? Pam glanced at her watch and took a deep breath. She was going to be late and she didn’t really need an interrogation from Dwight on top of the stress she was already feeling. She began to make her way up the stairs when a thought struck her. He had kissed her back. Even though it had been just a split second, a fleeting moment, he had her kissed back. What, if anything, did that mean? Her heart sunk slightly as she realized it meant nothing, absolutely nothing. It couldn’t. The butterflies in her stomach were threatening to explode out. She was his friend, it was probably just a reflex, and there was no way he thought about her like that and…as she reminded herself for the hundredth time that morning…he was engaged. “Whoa Pam,” she thought to herself as she approached the door to the office. “Just calm down. Just go inside and feel things out.” She grasped the handle, pulled open the door and walked inside.

Her breath caught in her chest as she saw him, leaning back in his chair, talking on the phone. He looked up as she took her place behind the reception desk and she instantly felt some of her nerves subside as a familiar smile spread across his face and he lifted a hand to wave at her. She waved back and sunk into her chair, breathing a sigh of relief. He had smiled and waved, so that was a good sign. Now she would just have to wait and see how the rest of the day played out.

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Jim finished his sales call and glanced over at Pam. She was staring intently at the side of her desk. He squinted slightly at her and then a small smile crossed his lips. He pushed away from his desk and slowly made his way over to her. He leaned his elbows comfortably on the counter and grabbed a couple of jelly beans from the container.

“Hey…” he said softly.

She didn’t respond for a moment and then blinked suddenly and turned to look up at him.

“Hey…” she said looking a little dazed.

Jim tried hard not to smile as he popped a jellybean in her mouth and then said, “What are you doing?”

Pam looked back down at her desk and then up at him sheepishly.

Jim couldn’t help but grin at her. She looked innocent and yet there was a twinkle in her eye that made his heart beat a little faster.

She raised her eyebrows playfully and then said, “Yeah…do you mind leaving?”

“Snap out of it…” he thought to himself as he went into the break room to grab a soda from the machine. “Why does it matter? Even if she does remember it or did it on purpose it’s not like you could or ever would act on it.”

Jim sunk down into a chair and ran his hand through his hair. He popped the top on his soda and took a long drink hoping that the carbonation would do something to squelch the weird curling that was in his stomach. What was going on? He was engaged…not dating…not casually seeing someone. He was engaged. He was a one-woman guy. Always. He should not be having this sort of a reaction to another woman. He pinched the back of his neck and took a deep breath. Pam was just his friend. He needed that…someone like her in this place. Otherwise he would surely go insane. They were friends. That was it and so it would be okay, Jim tried to reassure himself, but for some reason he couldn’t shake the nagging in the back of his mind.