Pam stares down at her ring finger, hating that she sees a diamond there. Then again, there’s never really been an excited shock that struck through her stomach when she looked at the pathetic ring. Even when Roy proposed, it was more of an expected act than a surprising, romantic gesture. She types random letters onto a word document before realizing that the phone is ringing next to her. She picks it up, mumbling a greeting as she attempts to type with one hand, soon remembering that she had nothing to type in the first place.
“Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam.” She sighs redundantly, glancing over at Jim, who sits mundanely at his desk, staring into space.
“Hi Pam. This is Jan. Can I talk to Michael?” A light but tense voice comes through the receiver, and Pam quickly groans “hold on” before pressing a few buttons and hearing a familiar ring from her boss’s office. She wonders what Jan could possibly want. Michael was probably calling her constantly and she’s reluctantly returning it. Either that or she has to yell at him for neglecting to work on something important. Again.
“You busy?” Pam hears a voice from above her, quickly glancing upward to see Jim’s smiling face looking down at her. She sighs with a smile, shaking her head and awaiting something fun to come her way.
“Good, because Dwight is putting on lotion, and it requires your full attention.” He flashes a pleased smile as he walks behind her desk, pretending to concentrate on her computer while they both look over in Dwight’s direction. Sure enough, he’s squeezing lotion out onto the back of his hands, making sure not to get the slightest bit of it onto his palms. He carefully rubs some of the moistener onto his cheeks, crossing his arms awkwardly and unintentionally knocking his glasses off, sending Pam into a fit of hushed giggles.
“How could he turn something so simple into something so ridiculous?” Pam asks, turning to face Jim who has pressed a clenched fist to his mouth, trying to conceal his happiness best he can. He shrugs, a wave of satisfaction overwhelming him.
“I do not know, Pam. That is the magic of Dwight. He’s an individual. I’m just glad we don’t see how he washes his hair.” That throws an unwanted mental image in Pam’s head. She shakes it off, rolling her eyes as Dwight continues to apply lotion to his face, then around his wrists. Jim taps Pam on the shoulder, as if saying “watch this” and heads reluctantly back to his desk. He clears his throat, preparing for this battle of sorts, and finally, before opening his mouth to speak, throws an excited smile at the hovering camera.
“Is that so in case of a fire, you won’t slip trying to open the window?” Jim questions, fighting the smirk that is slowly creeping onto his lips. He glances over at Pam, her face bursting with a light pink blush while she attempts to stay calm. As usual, Dwight’s beady eyes focus on Jim’s pleased face, and he sets his hands carefully down on his desk.
“No. In fact this is to improve my efficiency in the office. This way, I can continue to keep my hands moist without causing the phone to slip out of my hands while on a sales call,” he states seriously, making sure he has rubbed all of the substance into his parched skin. Jim nods, widening his eyes at Pam as if he believes Dwight’s thought process is logical. In a way, it sort of is. But still slightly ridiculous.
“That’s good because I was worried someone would be injured. You can never be too careful with technology. Right when you think it’s your ally, bam,” Jim briskly snaps his fingers to emphasize his point, while continuing to mock his employee, “then they just turn on you.” He flicks his hand in the air, ending his sentence with dignity and receiving and cold stare from Dwight. Once Dwight looks down, he turns to Pam with an accomplished smile while Pam giggles shyly.
She glances down at her finger again, and decides, maybe just for today; she’ll go without the ring. Just to see how it feels.
