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After their brief talk in the parking lot Pam had kept her distance, only talking to him when she needed to for work.  She never looked up when he hung up his coat in the morning and she never looked up when he said a quick goodbye to her at the end of the day. 

At staff meetings she always managed to sit behind him and the one time that fate sat her directly across the table from him, she didn’t look up from her pad of paper once.  Jim spent the majority of the meeting watching her out of the corner of his eye.  Watching her take notes on Michael’s latest marketing ideas on the top page of her pad and sketching something on the page beneath.

He wondered what she was sketching.  He had heard from Phyllis that she had enrolled in some art classes but he had yet to find the chance to ask her about them.

Lunches were spent with Karen.  She would come over and sit on his desk, chatting at him until he was ready to go.  On the days they didn’t go out they ate together in the break room, sitting at a table with Kevin and Meredith or whoever else was eating at the same time as them.  Pam never was.

It was Friday afternoon of his second week back in Scranton.  Michael stood in the doorway to his office giving a lecture on the importance of something or other.  Jim sat with his legs crossed and his hands behind his head facing Michael.  He leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes and sighed deeply.  As he sat there, trying to block Michael’s voice from his head, a strange feeling came over him. 

Her eyes.  He could feel them.  Burning into the side of his face like little laser beams.  He swallowed hard and turned his head, opening his eyes slowly.  Pam sat watching him, only a few feet away.  Her face was blank but her eyes spoke volumes as they took in Jim’s face.  He had never seen Pam look this way before.  Her eyes were filled with sadness and longing, hurt and anguish.  It was the first time in two weeks that she had not looked away.  She looked as if she was trying to tell him something.  Trying to tell him something with her eyes.  Jim’s mouth fell open as he stared back at Pam, trying desperately to hear what her eyes were trying to say.  Just as he was about to say something, he felt a hand on his knee.  Karen. 

He quickly turned his head toward her as she snapped her fingers in front of his face, “Earth to Halpert,” she said, smiling widely. 

He gave her a lame grin and a short chuckle, “Oh, hey, I guess I sort of spaced out there,” he said as he glanced back to Pam’s desk.  She sat staring intently at her monitor, once again back to ignoring his existence.

Jim was in a daze for the rest of the afternoon, going over her face, her eyes, in his head.  If only Karen hadn’t interrupted them. 

When five o’clock finally came, Jim slowly got to his feet and made his way to the coat rack.  He pulled on his jacket and slung his messenger bag over his shoulder.  Karen had left earlier to go see her cousins in the city for the weekend.  Jim had plans to meet Mark for dinner but no definite plans for the rest of the weekend.

On an impulse, he turned to Pam’s desk, “Hey Pam,” he said softly.

“Bye.” Pam said, not looking up from her typing.

“Oh,” he started, “actually I, uh, well, I was wondering if you wanted to grab that coffee sometime this weekend.”

Pam stopped typing and looked up suddenly, her eyes full of anxiety and fear.  “Um, well, actually I, um, don’t you have plans with Karen?” she finally said.

“No, she went to New York to see some family for the weekend.” He said. 

“Oh.” Pam said and stopped.  He could see the debate going on inside her head, her eyes darted around and she looked down at her hands.  “Um, ok.  I guess I am free tomorrow afternoon.  I have a class in the morning until 1.” She said, looking up at Jim.

“Ok.” Jim said, “Do you, uh, want to meet somewhere then?  How about at Fernando’s on 3rd Street?”

“Ok.” Pam said with a small nod.

“Ok.” Jim said, giving her a small, forced grin, “I’ll see you tomorrow then, Beesley.”

Pam nodded without smiling, “Bye, Jim.”