6:42

On my way over to pick up the Pamster. I'm still a little worried about Michael. I hope he's all right. He hasn't been answering his phone all day. I would go over to check on him, but tonight I have more important business to attend to. Tonight is all about Andrew and Pamela gettin' it on. Oh. Light's green. Gotta go!

*** 

This place was nice! She'd have to remember it for the next time her parents were in town. But even the beautiful setting couldn't make up for the lousy circumstances. The mood at the table was tense. Andy, of course, was blissfully oblivious to anything going on beneath the surface of the conversation. Karen was alternating between blatant boredom and feigned interest with occasional bouts of possessiveness towards Jim. As much as Pam had been dreading this double date, she hadn't expected it to be this bad. She was doing her best to keep up the charade, as she was determined not to be the first to crack, but it was getting more and more difficult by the minute as Jim's face got harder and harder to read.

"So, Andrew, what were you telling me about your frolf tournament, last night?" Pam asked with a demure smile.

Andy's mouth was full of noodles, so there was silence at the table for a minute as everyone waited for a reply.

"That was back at Cornell, but I've been meaning to set up a new league here in Scranton. I think there's some real potential for break-out stars to emerge. Michael told me once, that he'd never really been in a frisbee golf game, but don't you guys think he'd be great. And of course we'd be needing support from the ladies on the sidelines," he enthused, glancing meaningfully at both Pam and Karen.

Pam was glad she had paused right before taking a sip of wine, because that glance from Andy definitely would have interfered with her ability to swallow correctly.

*** 

He couldn't take his eyes off her. They were sitting less than three feet away from each other and he was doing his best to direct his attention toward Karen who was on his left, or occasionally to Andy on his right, but there was no escaping her smirky little smile and the way she was looking at Andy like he was the best thing that ever happened to her. What was wrong with Pam? She couldn't... There was just no way. She didn't seriously like Andy? Right? No. That wasn't possible. Was it? He was starting to wonder if hypnosis or some other kind of brainwashing was going on, when he noticed she was watching him too. She was being subtle about it, but he realized that every time she said something to Andy or even gave the slightest suggestion of flirting with him, she'd sneak a glance at him to see his reaction.

And there it was folks. Incredibly, Pam had somehow managed to mastermind this whole event just to see if she could still make him jealous. Wow. She was even better at this than he'd thought. He just couldn't believe he'd been that stupid. Clearly she was still only interested in tormenting him with something he could never have. And he'd fallen for it. Again.

His mood got darker and darker as he watched her join Andy in his rendition of that song from the six flags commercial. She hated that song. But apparently it was worth it to her to make him keep suffering like this. She'd sunk this low just to kick him in the gut when he couldn't do anything about it? He wouldn't have believed it from the old Pam, but he knew she had changed while he was in Stamford and now he was witnessing the the result. If he could have he would have reached across the table grabbed her by the wrist and demanded to know what else she wanted from him. As it was he could only sit there and try to keep his face from turning to a blatant scowl.

*** 

"So then after college how did you wind up at Dunder-Mifflin?" Pam asked, still trying her hardest to make it look like she cared. She glanced over at Jim again to see how he was taking it.

He met her glance, inexplicably frowned at her and then sat up suddenly from his slouch with a look of determination.

"Pam? Can I? I'm sorry everyone, I need to talk to Pam for just a minute."

"What?" Karen looked completely shocked.

"We'll just be a minute."

"Um. Jim, I think--" Pam attempted before being cut off by Karen.

"No! You know what? I think I'd better have a word with Jim first."

"Well, in that case why don't Pam and I leave you two alone for awhile, I'm sure we can think of somewhere else we'd rather be, right Pammy-cakes?" Andy leered.

Pam's jaw was practically on the floor. What was going on?

"That's not necessary Andy." Jim quickly replied.

"Jim, I need to talk to you now!" Karen snapped.

The two headed out the front door of the restaurant as Pam tried to collect herself. After a minute or so she looked over at Andy to find him still eyeing her intently. This was not good. She had expected that having Jim and Karen along would help to act as a buffer for this very situation. With them gone for who knew how long she'd just have to come up with something herself.

"Can you excuse me, for a minute? I need to use the restroom."

"By all means, my lady. And don't worry I will be right here all night, waiting for you."

She shuddered as she closed the bathroom door behind her. She wasn't sure how much worse one date could get.

*** 

8:04

I'm taking this opportunity to reflect for a moment on the evening. My Pamelady is in the john, and we finally managed to ditch Karen and the Tuna for a few minutes. Not that I don't love the guy, but he can be a real mood-killer sometimes. No wonder he's had so many relationship problems. The dude needs to get help. Michael told me once that the Tuna was involved with someone before he came to Stamford, or maybe they weren't dating, but he was like in love with her, or something. But as far as I know that ended up being a no-go. Personally, I wouldn't mind giving him a few pointers. I mean, you gotta feel sorry for the guy. He obviously doesn't have a clue how a successful relationship works. Management training taught me a lot about that actually.

***

"I thought you said we'd be going on a date!"

"What are you talking about? This is a date!"

"Oh right! So watching you stare across the table at Pam all night is considered a date now?" Karen huffed before turning around and walking down the street. Jim just watched her for a minute annoyed at her, but mostly at himself. 

"Karen, stop. Where are you even going?" he asked, easily catching up to her in her heels.

"I don't know, but I know I'm not going back in there."

"Seriously, stop. You can't walk all the way home!" His tone was softer, he really didn't want to provoke another scene.

Karen stopped, turned toward him, crossed her arms against her chest and just glared.

Jim understood why she was upset, and he knew he would be too if he were in her position. He let out a sigh.

"Look, just get in the car and I'll take you home, okay?"

 She still didn't say anything but she followed him back to the restaurant and across the parking lot to his car.

***

It had been 45 minutes since Jim and Karen had left and Andy was driving her insane. She excused herself again and headed for the bathroom.

She didn't know who else to call. Not for the first time, she regretted the fact that she hadn't bothered to make many friends outside her office.

"Please Angela. I know it's late, but I'll pay you for the gas."

"I just don't understand. How could you have gotten stuck at a restaurant? How did you get there in the first place?"

"It's a long story and I really don't want to talk about it. I swear I'll make it up to you."

"Don't swear. It's a sin."

"Sorry." Pam rolled her eyes, great she thought there goes my chance for a ride. She was about to offer Angela half of her next paycheck when she heard what sounded like some intense whispering coming from the other end of the line.

"Fine." Angela said. "I'll be there in 20 minutes. Please wait out front so I don't have to get out of my car." 

***

The drive to Karen's apartment didn't take long, but it felt like forever to Jim as neither of them broke the tense silence. When he pulled up on her street and turned off the car he expected her to climb right out without a word. But when she kept sitting there he figured she was looking for an apology.

"Karen, I'm sorry," he began.

"No. Don't. You're not sorry, I don't think you'd even know what to be sorry about, so don't lie to me." her voice was surprisingly calm, but she was staring out the windshield as though determined not to look at him.

"Okay. I won't." he said.

"Jim, I don't want to do this anymore. I'm sick of trying to make this work when I feel like I'm the only one who's trying. I liked you, I mean I really liked you, I moved here for you, but it's just not working. I don't know if it's you or Pam or whatever," she hesitated for a moment, then continued. "Honestly I don't really care anymore, so you can go do whatever you want, because I'm out."

Jim was at a loss for words. He knew he should have paid more attention to Karen over the past few weeks, but somehow he still hadn't expected this. He was tempted to make another attempt at smoothing things over, to do whatever it took to keep her with him, but was that really what he wanted? And was it fair to her? He realized he'd been quiet too long.

"I don't know what to say, Karen. You're right it's just not working, and I'm sure that's mostly my fault, but you should know that at one point I really wanted it to work too."

"Yeah, I do know that. That's what makes it so hard now."

Apparently his mouth had just made his decision for him. And now that he considered it a bit more, he realized that this really was what he wanted. Karen had been quiet too, and when he glanced in her direction her head was turned and he knew she was trying to keep him from seeing her tears

"And I am sorry that I hurt you." he added.

"I know." she sniffed "I'd better go."

"So, what now? I mean, I guess I'll see you at work?"

"Um. Yeah, probably, but I don't really think I'll be in Scranton for too much longer, to be honest. I don't really have any reason to stay."

"Right." he murmured.

"So, goodbye Jim." she turned to him then and put her hand on his cheek. He thought she was about to kiss him goodbye, but instead she just softly ran her thumb over his lips, closed her eyes for a second, and then let him go. She turned back once as she was walking away from the car. In the light from the street lamp, he could see a small smile on her face. He waved, and then started the car and drove away.

***

10:35

I think Pam might be having some sort of problem in the bathroom. Or maybe she's anorexic or whatever you call it when you throw up everything you eat. But that can't be it because she's not super skinny. Weird. Anyways, I came up with another plan to get Michael to make me his number three. I'll have to go shopping tomor

"Andy?" Jim watched Andy's look of surprise as he quickly closed up a little notebook he'd been writing in while sitting by himself at their table.

"Tuna! How many times do I have to tell you it's Andrew!"

"Where's Pam?" he asked ignoring both the notebook and Andy's comment for now.

"Bathroom." he replied nonchalantly. "Where's Karen?"

"I took her home, she wasn't feeling too well," said Jim. "How long has Pam been in there?"

"Uh... I don't know. Half an hour?"

"Right. Well, I just wanted to grab my jacket. I think I'm gonna call it a night."

"No problem Big Tuna. I can definitely handle it from here," he said with a wink.

 ***

He didn't really want to talk to her. In fact, he would've just gone straight home, but even when she was clearly trying to torture him he couldn't keep himself from making sure that Pam was okay. Just as he suspected, the waitress reported that there was no one in the women's bathroom. Poor Andy, he thought as he walked back to his car. The guy just had no clue.