At 1:50 p.m., Kelly stopped pretending to do work and went to the bathroom to check her makeup for the tenth time.  Then, she made Ryan stand with her (too nervous for sitting!) in the kitchen, where she proceeded to repeat how she nervous and excited she was until 2:15.  The crew of “How Not to Dress,” along with Carson and Nikki, were due at 2:30.  When Toby came in to ask them what was going on, Ryan just gave him a little smile and mumbled something about him not wanting to know. With a pitying look, Toby left.  Ryan leaned against the counter as Kelly paced back and forth in the small room, her purple heels clicking loudly.

“Oh my god, Ryan.  Do you think this was a bad idea?  I mean, she’ll be happy, won’t she?  What girl doesn’t want to go shopping with $5000 in New York, right?  And they’ll show her how to dress and fix her hair and put makeup on. They’ll make her totally hot. Then she can get a cute new boyfriend and stop getting back together with Roy.” She scrunched up her nose at the name.

“Or stop staring at the back of Jim’s head...” He mumbled more to himself than to Kelly, instantly regretting even mentioning it at all.  He had been wondering what that was all about, but now the entire office would know by the end of the day.

“What? Staring at Jim? Really? Oh my god, do you think she likes him? That’s so sad! I mean, her ex-boyfriend is a total, violent freak and the guy she likes has a girlfriend.  Oh my god, I feel so bad about this! Oh no, Ryan! I think I need to go put more lip gloss on.”

Ryan watched Kelly disappear into the ladies’ bathroom with her makeup bag and realized that the show was going to come charging through the front doors of Dunder-Mifflin any minute.  They seemed to like catching people completely off guard. It was part of the gimmick. He sighed and began walking to the main office, pretending that he needed to ask Jim a question, so that he wouldn’t miss the spectacle.

“Hey, Halpert?  I, uh, was wondering if you could help me with something.  You know, since Michael’s still not speaking to me.”

Jim leaned back in his chair and folded his arms, looking up at Ryan, “He’s still not speaking to you?  Wow.  You are an evil genius.” He nodded appreciatively.

“Thanks, but if I’m such a genius, why do I spend all day listening to Kelly talk about American Idol?”

Jim raised his eyebrows, “I stand corrected.  That is frightening. So, what’s up?”

“Um....I just had a question about, uh, vacation.  You know, like how much notice do I have to give and stuff.”

Jim scrunched his forehead and tilted his head, in a typical “Jim” expression.  Whenever he made these faces, which was often, Ryan was reminded of his dog.

“Uh...why didn’t you just ask Toby?  He’s the one you have to talk to about benefits, anyway. Oh no, Ryan. Did you piss Toby off too?”

Kelly was walking in from the break room, casting nervous glances over at Pam, when the chaos began.  The cameramen came first, which, initially, no one was fazed by.  They had gotten very used to having cameras around the office.  The two men entered and moved to the side, looking confused at the sight of the documentary crew who were assembled around the room as usual. Next, a tall, thin man dressed in an eggplant-colored suit and a super skinny blonde woman wearing the pointiest, highest heels Ryan could imagine marched into the office and approached the reception desk.

“Hi, are you Pam?” Nikki leaned on the desk and smiled at one of the cameras.

Pam smiled nervously at the two and nodded slowly. She looked scared, like she was afraid she was about to get into trouble.  In a way, she was.

“Nice to meet you , Pam.  I’m Nikki.” She hold out her hand, which Pam merely looked at.

“And I’m Carson. And we’re from the tv show “How Not to Dress.”

The two beamed at Pam, waiting for her start jumping up and down or acting mortified as people often did.  Instead, she just stared at them for a long time, her fingers frozen over her keyboard and her expression blank. Ryan held his breath. The office was quiet. No one typed or spoke.

“I, um, I’ve seen the show.”

Nikki clapped her hands together, “Fabulous, a viewer! Then you know what it’s all about?”

“Uh-huh. You do make overs. Oh my god. Are you here for me? Am I on the show?” Pam’s face flushed and her eyes had opened as wide as they could possibly go.

Carson placed his hands on his hips and looked down at Pam, “Please honey, look at that cardigan.  And you have to ask?”

Nikki laughed loudly, throwing her head back, “Oh, Carson, be nice.”

By this time, the entire office was staring at the scene that was unfolding at reception.  Stanley had put down his crossword and was shaking hid head disapprovingly.  Phyllis was covering her mouth with her hand, in an expression of shock.  Angela was peering over the wall that separated her from reception, glaring at the two hosts. As Kelly clung to his arm, Ryan noticed that Michael was hovering in the doorway to his office, trying to figure out what was happening.  The reaction that was the strangest, however, was Karen’s.  Ryan thought that she must watch the show frequently because she didn’t look at all confused.  Instead, to Ryan’s amazement, she was leaning forward in her chair with a huge grin on her face.