With his hands in his pockets, Jim paced back and forth in the office. He had arrived nearly an hour and half early. He wanted to greet Pam and have a chat with her before the rest of the employees came in for the day. While he waited, he thought about what he was going to say to her. After ten minutes of mind numbing tension, he decided to clean around his desk. When he was finished with that, he sat in his chair and swiveled for five minutes. He was counting down the minutes until he heard the door open. He turned in his chair anxiously. Michael walked in the office with donuts in hand.

“Jimbo! What’s going on?”

“Uh, nothing Michael.”

“How was your weekend?”

“Well, it was pretty miserable…”

“Great!” Michael said without even paying attention.

Michael’s office phone began to ring as some other office workers made their way through the door. Pam was no where in the mix of the crowd. He had come to the office early just to see her privately, and now everyone was in the office. He had to rethink his game plan.

Karen came in later than usual and passed by Jim’s desk, dropping a plastic sack in front of him. He looked up at her walking away and then back down to the sack. She had brought him all of his stuff that she had. He quickly put the bag underneath his desk and started to get to work. Where was Pam?

Jan came in about eleven. She went into Michael’s office and shut the door. Jim leaned in his chair to see through the blinds. Jan sat down in the chair across from Michael’s desk and spoke to him. Jim was curious why she had come all the way to Scranton to talk to Michael. Soon, Michael came out of the door and asked Ryan to join them in the office. Ryan made a dissatisfied face and went into the office and sat next to Jan.

Jim’s phone rang and it distracted him from his spying. He went on to selling paper for a few more minutes to take his mind off the absence of Pam.

A few moments later, Jan, Michael, and Ryan entered the office area. They stood in front of his door as if they were going to make an announcement. Michael cleared his throat and the office dropped their work to listen. Jim’s stomach did a flip at the thought of them announcing that some changes were going to be made. He knew what this announcement entailed.

“Listen up everyone! Jan has come to make an announcement. So, give her your undivided attention or I will reprimand you during lunch.” Michael turned to Jan with a little bow. “You may speak, my fair lady.”

Jan gave Michael a look. “I have come to let you all know that you will be experiencing some changes in the next few weeks. Your receptionist Pam will be taking an internship at Corporate for the next four months. Ryan has gladly agreed to fill in on the reception work. As you can see, Pam isn’t here today. She has taken some of her vacation days to plan and pack. She will be leaving in a few short weeks and has requested to take that time off. She assured me that she would be coming in at the end of this week or the beginning of next week to finish up her month here.”

Kelly had made a sad face as she turned towards Jim. Karen caught her look and then went back to staring at her monitor. Jim felt the world colliding. He knew this was going to happen, but he didn’t want Pam to leave hating him. He wanted to fix all this--even if it meant they would just be friends.

Jan continued with her spiel after the rumble of voices subsided. “The other reason I am here is to let you all know that Corporate will be asking some of you to join their staff. We are doing some major changes within the company and we feel like some of our seasoned colleagues should get promotions. So, please be watching for e-mails, memos, phone calls, and faxes that you should be receiving in the next few weeks. That is all.”

Jim began to think of all the possibilities. Would he be selected to move up to corporate? He wanted to since Pam was going to be in NYC for the next four months. He didn’t know what would happen. Now, his plan had been totally changed.

----

Karen had ignored Jim for the past few days. He felt miserable that she had become so angry with him. She was being as kind as she could in the circumstances. He gave her a smile and a greeting when they would find themselves alone in the kitchen or the break room. He didn’t want to let their connection be a bad one.

He had no intentions of calling Pam. He wanted to speak with her in person. No more phone calls or e-mails. He wanted the real deal.

Jim heard someone some through the door. He turned to see that Roy had come up to the office.

“Hey Halpert,” Roy said as he leaned back against the reception counter facing Jim.

“Hi Roy. What are you up to?”

“I just came up to see what went down the other night,” said Roy in a hushed tone.

Jim matched Roy’s tone and replied, “Nothing.”

“What? You haven’t talked to her yet?”

“No. She hasn’t come in for the past few days. I want to talk with her in person and I don’t want to just swing by her house. That didn’t turn out too good the last time I did.”

“Oh. What happened,” Roy bobbed his head in Karen’s direction, “with her?”

Jim shook his head and made an awkward face. Roy got the hint.

“Well, good luck man.”

“Thanks Roy, for everything.”

“No problem. Also, there is certain someone that will be coming over to my place tonight to drop off a few things. If you know what I mean…”

Jim wasn’t sure if he should be angry or excited. Roy was letting Jim know that Pam had made plans to stop by and drop off stuff at Roy’s house. Was he inviting him to show up there or making him jealous?

“She will be there around seven. Just to let you know.”

“Great. Seven it is.”

Jim felt bad about planning things behind Pam’s back. He also didn’t want to get another door slammed in his face. He decided he would think about visiting Roy’s tonight so he could see Pam and tell her what was going on.

----

Seven o’clock rolled around and Jim was still sitting in his living room. He was having second thoughts about showing up at Roy’s. Would she be offended? Would she want to talk? Would she listen?

Jim’s heartbeat was in a flutter when he heard his phone ring. He answered.

“Where are you? She just showed up!”

“I’m not coming. I will do it another time.”

“She just needed to get rid of a few things she won’t need in NYC. She is probably going to be leaving soon. Come on!”

“No. Thanks for the tip but I think I will handle this later.”

“Are you chickening out?”

“Why are you trying to be so helpful? I mean, I basically stole her from you and you are trying to hook us up. What’s that all about?”

“She isn’t happy when she isn’t with you.”

“Really?”

“She’s a mess. You need to do something.”

“Not tonight.”

“Okay.”

Click.

Jim knew he should have gone. He had his shoes and coat on, and his keys in his hand to go over there to surprise her. He had chickened out, as Roy put it. He didn’t want to upset her anymore. Every time they spoke all they did was argue, yell, and cry. Why keep going on like that?

----

Pam had brought Roy the box of photo albums and their old toaster oven. She wouldn’t be needing those things when she was in New York. Corporate was going to provide housing for her, along with the other selected interns. She knew that she didn’t look very nice at all. She had an old pair of jeans and a big sweatshirt on. Her hair was a in a clip and her face looked gaunt. She had spent the last few nights sleepless.

“Thanks for letting me drop this by.”

Roy scratched his head then took the box out of Pam’s arms. “Oh, no problem.”

Pam shuffled awkwardly while she looked around the living room they used to share. Roy had moved things around and added new pieces to the furniture.

“It looks great in here.”

“Yeah, I did some shopping for a few things. Hey, can you hold on a sec?”

“Sure.”

Roy went into his bedroom with the box and picked up his phone to dial Jim. Pam heard him on the phone with someone but didn’t take any interest and kept looking at the art and photos on the wall. She remembered hanging some of the artwork and photos of his family when they first moved in. She slightly missed being in his house. She shook the thought out of her head and walked towards Roy’s door to tell him she was leaving.

“She’s a mess. You need to do something.”

Pam furrowed her brows as she listened into his conversation. She tried to make out the voice on the other end and could tell it was a males voice.

“Okay,” said Roy as he turned to see that Pam was standing in his doorway. His face flushed and fell at the sight at Pam.

“Is something wrong Roy?”

“Nothing. I had to make a call, that’s all.”

“Who is a mess?”

“Uh, Darryl’s girl. He dumped her.” Roy said as he lied through his teeth.

“Are you lying to me Roy?”

Roy looked to his left then to the floor. He was caught and he was bad at hiding it. Pam knew him too well to know he was fibbing.

“I called Jim.”

Pam crossed her arms over her chest with a look of shock. “Why?”

“He was going to come over tonight to see you.”

“You told him I would be here?”

“Yeah. He was going to meet up with you here so he could talk to you.”

“Why here?”

“He didn’t want to call you over the phone and he hated showing up at your house. I told him at work today you’d be stopping by.”

“You’re actually talking to him. When did that happen?”

“He stopped by the other night. He told me about you guys.”

“He did? What about us?”

“How he kissed you and that he felt like he ruined our wedding because of it. I told him that it was bound to happen.”

“Oh… I’m sorry Roy. I didn’t mean to hold that from you. I just didn’t think it was wise to tell you so soon after us splitting up.”

“I understand. Pam, he really cares for you."

Pam’s face started to crinkle into her ‘cry face.’ She took in a large gasp of air and started crying. Roy stared at her as she sobbed. He brought her a box of tissues as she sat down on the couch.

“I’m sorry for this. I just don’t know what to do Roy.”

“You’ll figure it out.”

“Why are you being so nice to me after I ruined everything?”

“I still care for you Pam. I'll always care for you.”

Pam looked down and let a few more tears fall from her eyes. Roy sat next to her on the couch.

“I’m sorry Roy.”

“We don’t need to do this again. All I know is that there is a guy out there that is hurting just as bad as you are.”

“I know.”

----

Jim sat on his back porch. He always wanted to be outside in moments like this. He hadn’t seen Pam in almost a week and had no clue how to reconcile everything with her. The pit of his stomach told him to call her and his mind told him to stop and wait, then his heart told him something different. He was confused at which body part to listen to. He sat in one of his lawn chairs with a beer and gazed at the stars. He remembered sitting on the roof of Dunder Mifflin with her. They had such an amazing night just hanging out and watching Dwight and Kevin practically set themselves on fire. He remembered the giggle she had let out when Dwight  fell on top of the flaming firework. He wanted to savor that sound and the thought of her.

She is really leaving and I won’t have the chance to save our friendship. She hates me.

The pit of his stomach, mind, and heart argued again over which action he should take. Jim shifted to ease the uncomfortable feeling throughout his body. Then, his phone rang again.

“Hello?”

“Hi Jim.”