They agree to go out that night ('I thought you said...' 'Oh, yeah, no, I can--' 'Okay' 'Yeah' 'Cool'). Jim feels a twinge of guilt because he was supposed to meet Karen later, but they're technically still just friends. Forget that she kind of moved here for him. Forget the increasing obviousness in her flirting. Forget Karen, because when he sees the way Pam's eyes light up as he suggests one of the more intimate coffee shops, he can't think of anything or anyone else.

"Do you want to just take my car?" Pam offers, and then feels weird. "It won't really be out of my way to drop you back here..."

"Oh." He thinks briefly of Karen, but then realizes she's already left. He had given her some sort of half-assed excuse for canceling and he tries not to focus on the guilt for now. "Yeah, that'd be great. Save on gas."

A smile spreads across her face. "But you better be buying if I'm driving." Her face goes slightly pink, surprised at her own forwardness. This isn't supposed to sound too much like a date. Even if she is hopeful...

Jim swoops in with a friendly, "Of course." Those simple words make her toes tingle.

When they get there, Jim's feeling adventurous and orders a shot in the dark with raspberry flavoring. An odd choice, but he wanted something a little more bold than his usual decaf latte. Pam raises her eyebrows at his daring order and says she'll have the same. "No, make that without flavor. Actually, can it just be a shot in milk? Wait, that's a latte. I'll just have... a latte." Jim laughs earnestly at her, and she murmurs, "Shut up", punching him lightly in the side. They agree in unison that the order is 'for here'.

"Raspberry and coffee?" she says as they sit down, making a disgusted face. "Glad I decided to change my order."

"I don't know, raspberry is good in a mocha... figured I'd try something new."

"Sometimes you have to stick to the basics," she muses.

His head is nodding, but his mouth is saying, "Sometimes it's worth taking a chance."

A frown touches her lips briefly before she's all smiles again, but it doesn't escape Jim's notice. He's trying not to think about what he's getting himself into, or the implications of their little 'date'. The last 'first date' he had with her, he found out she was engaged. So... hopefully this will go a little better. "Your hair looks really nice today," he finds himself saying. He'd been surprised to see her looking so well and had assumed it was part of her new independent lifestyle, because surely it couldn't just be about his return.

"Yeah I wanted to look nice for--" she stops herself, choosing her words carefully, "the new employees." She's fiddling with her necklace. "They say the receptionist gives the first impression for the whole company... although I'm sure any of my efforts would be quickly overridden by Michael's."

Jim lets out a laugh a little louder than he'd expected and agrees. "Well I noticed."

She bites her lip and Jim notices a sparkle in her eyes. "I was pretty nervous, actually."

"Meeting new people is always nerve-wracking."

She wonders if he'd missed her meaning or if he's pretending he didn't catch it. "Yeah." She pauses. "I've been meaning to tell you that... I'm sorry I didn't like call you sooner or something. I mean when I broke off.. the wedding." The words are more painful than she'd anticipated. "I was nervous, I guess, and I wanted to be on my feet first-- ready." She dares to look him in the eyes as she cooly adds, "And I am now."

Her words make him tremble and he's amazed how much power this woman still has over him. He opens his mouth to reply, but the waitress cuts him short. "Medium latte?" she asks. Pam is flustered and manages a nod. "And a raspberry shot in the dark." Jim smiles and murmurs a 'thanks'. When she's gone, his eyes go back to Pam. She's fidgeting with her skirt and even in the poor light he can detect a blush, so he offers a taste of his drink.

"Don't you want to try it first? I haven't even tasted mine yet."

"Oh." He scratches the back of his head absently. They both take a sip. "Okay, now would you like to try?"

She giggles and nods, taking the proffered drink from his large hands, her fingers brushing his. She brings the oversized mug carefully to her lips. "Wow, that's... strong." Her eyes look widely at the drink, as if it possesses some sort of greater power. "But not too bad."

"With this much sugar and coffee I'll be up all night," he laughs, taking it back.

A vivid image of what could possibly be keeping him occupied all night fills her head and she tries desperately to erase it. To no avail; she can't stop thinking of fucking him. Dammit. "Yeah," she murmurs meekly.

"You okay, Beesly?"

"Yeah!" The word escapes quickly and a little too loudly from her mouth. "No, I mean yeah."

He gives her a quizzical grin. She looks as if she wants to say something, but nothing appears to be coming out, so she takes a drink of her latte. And for awhile they just sit there, drinking, each trying desperately to think of something clever or interesting or really anything to say. Pam finally comes up with "I've been taking some art classes."

Jim puts down his coffee to respond, and says warmly, "That's really great. I mean really, I don't think you should ever give up on this."

A light tingling rushes through her body. "You remember Take Your Daughter To Work Day last year?" she asks unexpectedly. He mutters a confused 'yeah'. "I swear this is related," she quickly adds. "Kevin's... whatever she was, fiancee's daughter, told me she wanted to be an artist when she grew up. And I told her 'me too', and she said I was grown up. I know it's stupid, but I kind of lost faith after that. I mean I already kind of had, but then whenever I thought about trying again, that silly comment just popped into my head and I couldn't help thinking that it was just too late. So I'm really... glad you said that, I guess." She pauses. "I don't know why I just said that." A nervous laugh punctuates her words.

"I didn't know that," is all Jim can think to say. His eyebrows furrow a bit and he adds, "It's never too late." He sure hopes not, anyway.

"It isn't," she replies simply.

He doesn't quite no what to say, and so takes another sip of coffee. He realizes it's almost gone and frowns. How did he get through it so quickly? He's getting a little antsy, and he knows it's not the caffeine. She's made several quite suggestive remarks so far, and he's wondering how far too read into them. It was his intention to be open and responsive, but not make any moves. If she does, he is sure as hell going to respond, but he can't risk ruining this again. He's fighting the urge to tell her how beautiful she looks, or maybe to even tell her he still loves her. Something, anything that might lead to touching her, because she's just so damn irresistible.

Before he says anything, she asks him where he's living now. Is he back with Mark?  Did he find a new place? The question seems innocent enough.

"I actually got my own apartment," he replies casually. "Figured it was time to grow up. Plus Mark's been pretty serious with his girlfriend and I didn't really want to be in the way of that."

"Oh," is all she says.

"Yeah, it's just a studio apartment. It's in this really old building though; it's pretty cool. I don't really have that much stuff so I filled it up pretty easily." He shrugs.

"Is it the building on 7th?" she asks. "The one with the big tree in the front?" He nods. "I totally looked at that place! They had a couple rooms available, but I was afraid of the year lease. At that point I still didn't know what I was doing with my life. That's a really nice building, though."

"You didn't think you'd be here a year?"

"Well, I don't know." She's a bit flustered. "I thought maybe I'd end up back with Roy, or that I'd quit my job and take that internship in New York... Jan said it was too late for that, though. Or maybe I'd go to Europe..."

"Why didn't you?" he asks genuinely.

She's blushing, because the answer is twofold. "I was afraid," she says honestly. "I am afraid. I'm not the kind of person to just go off and do something like that. I want to, but... I don't know, I guess I'm not brave enough..." She neglects to mention the second reason, which was that she hoped it wasn't too late for her and Jim, but that it probably would be if he wanted her again and she was off across an ocean.

"Don't say that," he says seriously. He knows she can be too passive, but she's not a coward. If she were, well, she'd probably be married to Roy, for one.

"I don't know. If I were braver maybe I'd have more of things I want. Because it's not like I haven't had the opportunities..." She pauses, thoughtful. "Jan once told me 'there's always a million reasons not to do something'."

"It's sound reasoning," he comments, a bit distant. Because there are a million reasons they aren't together when he knows they should be. He isn't holding out for a happy ending, but it just seems so possible. Maybe he should make a move. But... maybe he shouldn't. Maybe not yet. Let them stick to easier topics for awhile.

As if reading his mind, she asks, "So didn't we come here to talk about all I missed while you were in Stamford?" He smiles, and they're able to chat easily for quite some time.

"Well you missed quite a lot Beesly, let me tell you. Working 9-5 at a mid-range paper supply company in a town where I don't know anyone, it's a pretty exciting life." She lights up with a giggle and he's pleased he can still make her laugh. "Obviously I've missed a lot. You trying pranks on your own, Angela and Dwight an item-- what next?"

Her sweet smile leads them into easy conversation, and it's an hour later before they realize they finished their coffee some time ago... in fact, they're the only ones left now. "It looks like they're starting to close up," Pam comments, looking at an old man sweeping behind the counter.

"Yeah. We should probably get going."

They pay, excusing themselves for staying too long, and head back to Pam's car. She remarks that there's a full moon and that she wishes she could capture that beauty in a painting. He says he believes she can, and that she should stop saying she can't. She looks at him while he stares happily into the sky and really, really wants to kiss him, but doesn't. She's not that bold just yet. Maybe soon.