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On ring one, Jim almost hung up. On ring two, he told himself to grow a pair and do what he needed to do. On ring three, his palms started to sweat and he wasn’t sure he could keep the phone from slipping out of his hands. It was in the middle of ring four that she finally picked up.
“Hello?” Pam answered, sounding breathless. Jim’s heart leapt into his throat and fumbled awkwardly with the phone.
“Hi,” was all he managed to squeak out, his voice cracking.
“Jim?”
“Yeah…umm…hi. I said that already, but yeah. How—how are you?” He rolled his eyes at his pathetic attempt at conversation.
“I’m okay, you?” Her voice was a little shaky and Jim wondered how two intelligent adults could be reduced to such incoherency.
“Good, I’m good…” he trailed off. There was silence on her end and Jim was getting anxious. Now or never, he thought to himself. “So, about last night—“
“Jim, I am so sorry for running out on you like that. I was just so confused and emotional and didn’t know what to do…” Pam’s mouth was running a mile a minute and he could barely understand her. Jim smiled to himself. Karen was right: all she needed was for him to begin and she would fill in the rest.
“Whoa, Beesly, slow down, I didn’t hear half of that,” he laughed. He heard her exhale and could see her in his mind beginning to smile.
“Listen, I don’t want to do this over the phone,” Jim felt his stomach do flips and had flashbacks to high school, as though he was asking the prom queen out on a date. “Will you have dinner with me tonight?”
“Yes!” Pam answered quickly, her enthusiasm contagious. Jim beamed.
“Good, I’ll pick you up at 6:00.”
“You don’t have to pick me up, it’s out of your way, and I can always just meet you somewhere.” Jim could hear the guilt in her voice as she continued to make up for the night before.
“How do you know it’s out of my way? I didn’t even tell you where we’re going,” he teased. “Besides, I need to see the bachelorette pad of Fancy New Beesly for myself.”
She giggled and Jim’s smile grew bigger knowing he had caused it. “Alright, fine. But at least tell me where we’re going.”
“All in due time, Beesly. I’ll see you at 6:00.”
“Okay. Bye Jim,” she said happily.
“Bye Pam.” He hung up the phone and sunk into his couch with a sigh, contentment coursing through his body.
xxx
The rest of the day, Jim was the kind of happy he thought only existed in the movies. He wore a smile on his face, whistled as he cleaned his apartment, and had a bounce in his step as he wandered through town to do errands. For the first time in years, he felt like life was falling into place. With the right woman beside him to watch it all happen.
Jim’s eagerness brought him to Pam’s doorstep at 5:50. He rang the doorbell and bounced a bit in place waiting for her to answer. The door swung open and he saw a frazzled Pam, hunched over in an attempt to put on a heel.
“You’re early!” she exclaimed.
“Which is quite a feat considering I stopped to pick up this.” Jim pulled from behind his back a single lily, identical to the one he had placed in her ear the previous night. Her eyes lit up at the sight of the flower, a light pink blush creeping into her cheeks.
“Give me two minutes,” she said, stepping aside to let Jim in. “Make yourself at home,” she called over her shoulder as she raced back into her bedroom. Jim smiled at her words. “Pam” and “home” together in the same thought made his heart begin to race and though he knew he was getting a bit ahead of himself, he wasn’t about to let their technical first date after three years of friendship stop him from hoping.
Jim surveyed her new apartment. It was so wonderfully Pam: small pieces of art hung up on walls and an easel set up facing her window. Two bookcases framed her small couch and pictures of her family adorned her various end tables and shelves. Jim picked one up and examined it. He recognized Pam’s mother in the picture, looking quite a bit younger with a small curly-haired girl in her lap. Without a moment’s doubt, he knew it was Pam. She was laughing and clapping her hands together, wearing a bright red dress and her golden brown curls swept halfway back. Her smile, the one he’d loved from the first day he met her, was the just the same even then. This was the genuine Pam that for many years he only saw in brief, shining moments: a prank successfully pulled on Dwight, too many “second drinks” at the Dundies, her mercilessly beating him in poker . With the new life she had begun to make for herself, Jim had a feeling he would be seeing a lot more of the little girl so perfectly captured in the photograph he held.
He set the picture back down as he heard Pam step into the living room. She wore a simple, white lace dress matched with a pink cardigan and white heels. And to Jim’s delight, her hair was back to its curly state.
“You look great. Though I am glad I changed before I left, I was this close to wearing that exact same outfit.”
Pam grinned broadly at him before throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. Jim was caught off guard and stumbled back a bit till he regained his balance and wrapped his arms around her waist. This was how it should be, he thought, always. He smiled.
“What was that for?”
Pam pulled back a bit, hands touching his face to answer and shrugged. “I’m happy.”
Jim’s smile grew bigger. “Me too.” They stared at each other for a few more moments, their happiness radiating from their smiles before Jim took her hand and led her to his car.
xxx
Jim remembered Pam mentioning taking French classes in high school and being fascinated with French culture. So he had had taken it upon himself to make reservations at an upscale French restaurant called “Odette’s” in New Hope. He had researched the restaurant earlier that day and knew it was the perfect place for their first date: candle-lit with white linen tablecloths, gourmet food, and quiet enough to provide for intimate conversation. Sure it was a tad pricey, but Jim would find a way to buy all of France for her if he knew it’d make her happy.
Sure enough, he saw Pam’s eyes light up at the sight of the elegant restaurant.
“Is this where we’re eating?” she asked incredulously, her jaw dropped.
“But of course,” Jim said, trying on his best French accent. Pam roared with laughter.
“Do I have to start calling you Pierre?”
“Mais oui,” he said with a wink as he leapt out of the car, sprinting to her door in order to open it for her. She began to climb out when suddenly Jim lost his grip and the door came swinging back at her.
“Pam!” he cried. He quickly pulled the car door back open. “I am so sorry, are you okay?”
Pam rubbed the part of her leg where the door had hit, and to Jim’s relief, laughing. “I’m fine, though apparently I’m going to have to start calling you ‘butterfingers.’” Jim chuckled a bit, but mentally chastised himself for being so clumsy. He led her through the front doors, watching her delight in the romantic ambience and the French art hung throughout the dining room. Jim strolled up to the hostess at the front.
“Hi, I have reservations for two. The name is Halpert.”
The hostess peered over her glasses at Jim and Pam before scrolling down the list in front of her.
“How do you spell it?” she asked flatly. Jim began to grow nervous.
“H-a-l-p-e-r-t.” He glanced back at Pam, smiling and waiting patiently.
The hostess continued to scroll down the list. “I’m sorry, sir, I don’t see your name.”
“What? No, there has to be a mistake. I called today—“
“With whom did you speak?”
“I don’t know, it was a guy—“
“Young or old?”
“Not really young…but not really old either…”
“Deep voice or high pitched?”
“Look!” Jim raised his voice, causing several tables around the restaurant to raise their heads in disdain. He cleared his throat and spoke softer. “Look, there has to be something you can do. My—“ he looked once again at Pam, who was softly biting the corner of her lip, brows slightly furrowed. He began to say girlfriend, but with the way the night was going, decided not to chance it. “I just don’t want to let her down,” Jim whispered to the hostess. “Please.”
The hostess gave one more look at Pam before turning back to Jim. “Wait at the bar, I’ll see what we can do.” She motioned for the two of them to follow her and briskly led them to the rear of the restaurant. Jim mouthed to Pam “I’m sorry” as they walked and was relieved when Pam squeezed his hand and mouthed back “It’s okay.”
The bar was elegant, and while it wasn’t a guaranteed table, Jim felt he had to take what he could get. He ordered two glasses of red wine for them before apologizing profusely to Pam.
“I can’t tell you how sorry I am. This was not how tonight was supposed to go,” he said rubbing his thumb over her wrist. Pam continued to smile warmly at him.
“Would you please stop apologizing? This is wonderful. The fact that you even went to this much trouble…it means a lot.” Jim heard the compassion and understanding in her voice and began to relax. Table or no table, he was with her, and nothing could ruin that.
“Here you are, sir,” the bartender said returning with a bottle of red wine. He placed two crystal glasses in front of them, pouring Pam’s first before Jim’s. When he had finished, Pam took her glass and raised it.
“What should we toast to?” she asked, eyes twinkling with excitement.
“To a new ‘worst first date’ story?”
Pam lightly slapped his wrist. “No, not at all. To…” she paused for a moment before smiling sweetly. “To us.”
Jim grinned, softly clinking his glass with hers. “To us.”
The evening went on and Jim soon forgot about the rough start to their night and began to just enjoy his present company. Pam talked about the various oddities he missed while in Stamford, and Jim regaled her with stories of sending faxes to Dwight from his future self and the first prank he ever pulled on Andy.
“So he sees the calculator in Jell-O, and goes ballistic. Not like slightly-annoyed-Dwight, I mean could-cause-bodily-harm mad,” Jim explained to Pam, who was nearly crying with laughter.
“I’m thinking ‘Oh god, what have I gotten myself into?’ when all of a sudden he starts pounding his fist on the desk.” Jim mimicked Andy and pounded his fist on the bar counter. He continued to pound when suddenly he hit too close to his wine glass, causing it to spill all over Pam’s crisp, white dress. Jim’s face fell in horror as she bolted upright out of her stool.
“Oh my God…shit,” he cursed, looking frantically around for a towel. Pam stood there dripping, her arms splayed out from her sides and her face flushed with embarrassment. Jim leapt behind the bar and finally found a damp rag, ignoring the yells of protest he heard from the bartender. He jumped over the bar once more and kneeled down to wipe where the wine had stained.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I’ll take it to the cleaners. No, I’ll buy you a new a dress, I’ll do anything—“ he stopped as heard hysterical laughter coming from above him. He looked up to see Pam’s mouth open wide and eyes shut tight, trying to catch her breath as she continued to shriek with laughter.
Jim looked around the restaurant to see tables muttering and shaking their heads and he too began to laugh loudly. He then noticed an angry man he presumed was the manager marching toward them.
“I’m going to have to ask the two of you to leave, right now,” he fumed. “And I ask that you never step foot in the restaurant again. Ever.”
Jim and Pam managed to force out apologies in between bouts of laughter as they made their way back out to the parking lot.
xxx
“I can’t believe I’m banned from another restaurant,” Pam said while chewing her cheeseburger. “That makes two before I’m even thirty.”
Jim shook his head as he bit into a French fry. “I can’t believe I cleared that bar. If it had been just a couple inches wider, you probably would have had to carry me out of there.”
“I’m pretty sure the manager would have been more than happy to remove you from there in whatever way possible.” She giggled before sipping her soda. “Who knew we were such delinquents?”
After being thrown out of the restaurant and composing themselves in the car, Jim and Pam agreed that what was hurting the night was the pressure they had both put on it. They realized that trying so hard to make it perfect had ultimately led to disaster and they decided to make the rest of the evening as casual as possible.
Which was why they now sat cross-legged on Pam’s couch, dining on cheeseburgers, French fries and Coke. Pam had showered to get the smell of red wine off of her and had changed into flannel pajama pants and a University of Scranton t-shirt while Jim promptly removed his dress shoes and tie. It was comfortable, laid-back and utterly perfect.
Pam raised her cup. “I want to make another toast.”
Jim smirked. “To your ongoing streak of restaurant banishment!”
“That,” Pam winked at him. “And to second chances.”
Jim smiled genuinely as they tapped their paper cups together and settled in for the beginning of their second chance.
Author's Chapter Notes:
So not exactly Jim's most shining moments in this one, but Pam's reaction to them is exactly why these two kids just need to get it together and make babies already.
Chapter End Notes:
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