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            Jim stood in the parking lot leaning against his car, his arm still in the air as he watched Pam’s taillights disappear down the road.  Well, that went well, he thought as his arm dropped to his side and he pulled his keys out of his pocket.  He clicked open his doors and climbed inside.  His key in the ignition, he paused before starting the car, replaying the last hour in his head. 

            He had arrived at the café at 12:45 and grabbed a small table toward the back, hoping it would be a comfortable place for them to sit and talk.  He had debated all morning about what to wear, in the end deciding to try to look casual, but not too casual.

At first he sat in the chair facing the door, but then decided to sit in the chair facing the window so he could watch for her car.  As each minute after one o’clock ticked by on his watch, he became more and more convinced that she wasn’t going to show.  At 1:09 he had just about given up hope, when he noticed a faint reflection of her standing behind him in the window.  She looked as if she were debating on whether or not to stay, so he quickly turned around, preventing her from sneaking away.

He couldn’t help but smile when he first saw her, her cheeks were pink from the cool breeze outside and her hair was up in a loose ponytail, she looked fresh and beautiful.  When she took off her coat, he saw that she had on a pale purple turtleneck and an old pair of jeans.  They must be her painting jeans he thought, noticing several small splashes of color scattered on the legs.

She sat down in the chair across from him and put her hands in her lap.  When he started to ask her about her art class, she seemed flustered and nervous and mumbled something about being starved.

Jim cringed to himself and sat back in his car seat as he remembered how lunch went.

As soon as he ordered the grilled ham and cheese sandwich, he regretted it.  Fernando’s was one of his favorite places in Scranton to go for lunch, and the ham and cheese was his all-time favorite.  However, the ham and cheese was also the all-time messiest.   

In an attempt to be thoughtful, he had gotten Pam’s pop for her, remembering to put in two lemon wedges like she liked.  It had backfired on him however, as he watched Pam try in vain to poke her straw through the poor lemons resting at the bottom of her cup.  When he told her why her straw was getting stuck, she looked genuinely surprised and then immediately embarrassed.

The silence during lunch was almost unbearable; Jim tried to eat his sandwich carefully, being sure not to take too big of a bite in case Pam wanted to talk.  She didn’t seem to be in the talking mood however.  Every time he glanced up at her she had her head down, poking around her salad with her fork and chewing her food slowly as if it were made of glass.  The sight of her eating so awkwardly caused him to momentarily forget about his own plan for eating carefully, and he took a big bite, causing his sandwich to dismember.  He watched in horror as the insides of his sandwich squeezed out from between the slices of bread and plopped down onto his plate. 

He sat back in his chair, glaring angrily at the sandwich, cursing himself for ordering it in the first place, when he heard her giggle.

It had been months since he’d heard her giggle and the sound immediately brought a surge of warmth into his heart.  He looked up at her as she tried to hold back a grin, offering to get him some napkins, or a towel.  He politely declined, but couldn’t help but grin to himself at her happiness over his misfortune.  God I've missed her laugh he thought to himself.

Jim tried to salvage the rest of his sandwich and his pride, by eating the remainder of his lunch with a fork.  They were both quiet for the rest of the meal, but Jim could tell by the way Pam was eating her salad that she had relaxed some.

When they were done, Jim was once again embarrassed when Pam took his plate away, revealing the large mess he had created on the table.  Pam leaned in front of him, quickly wiping the table clear.  Jim reveled in the clean scent she left lingering in the air as she sat back down in her chair.

He had been anxious to talk about the card he received from her over the summer and thought that a good way to lead into it would be to ask her about her art classes, so he asked how today’s was again.  She answered anxiously, nodding like a maniac.  If Jim hadn't been so nervous himself, he might have made a joke about her bobbing head, but instead asked another question.  When she answered that it was a watercolor class she had gone to this morning, he felt excited that the opportunity had come up to talk about the card.  His excitement was short-lived however when his phone interrupted them.

It had been his mother.  Jim had been playing phone tag with her since returning home to Scranton and knew she was anxious to talk to him.  He had excused himself to take the call, thinking that it would give him a good chance to go over what he wanted to say to Pam again before actually saying it.

He quickly invited his Mother to have dinner at his new apartment on Wednesday night and tried to end the conversation as fast as he could.

When he got back to the table however, he could tell he’d missed his chance.  Pam looked dejected and wouldn’t look him in the eye. 

He knew right away that she was lying about her 2pm meeting with her friend, but decided not to call her on it as she seemed in a hurry to leave. 

Jim sighed heavily and started his car.  He pulled out onto the road and drove the three miles to his new apartment.  Once inside, he walked to his refrigerator and looked inside.  He pushed past the six-pack of grape soda from Mark and half-empty carton of orange juice and grabbed a bottle of water.  He sat down on his couch and put his feet up on the coffee table in front of him, taking a long drink of the cold water. 

What a disaster, he thought as he screwed the top onto the water bottle and set it on the table.  He laced his hands together behind his head and stared at the empty white wall in front of him.  This place really needs some color he thought to himself as he drifted off to sleep.