She had of course been the one to answer the phone earlier, when the bomb squad called.
She hadn’t caught the entire story, but she had managed to gather the essentials: Someone disgruntled had called in a bomb threat to Vance Refrigeration, it was probably nothing, but the building had to be evacuated as a precaution.
Michael was running down the hallway before Pam finished talking.
Some things never change. But then, a lot of things do.
A light breeze blew past her, and she sneezed from the in take of pollen, Spring was in full force. She loved the weather, it felt amazing to be outside, but the month of May brought about an anniversary on her calendar, that was quickly approaching.
Through the mess of uniformed officials and Dwight offering his assistance, Pam could see Jim across the parking lot, sitting on the edge of a planter. Karen was across from him on the other side, leaning against a tree, the three of them forming a triangle around the police cars; an involuntary coincidence causing Pam chuckle to herself at the bitter irony.
Jim looked sleepy, and was looking at the ground. Karen had a look on her face that Pam could only interpret as ‘fed up with the antics that revolve around this branch.’ For such a small office in this meaningless town, too many things happened.
Pam knew that they had broken up. When Jim came into work at the beginning of the week she knew without having to ask him, and she appreciated that even after this rift in their friendship, they would never outgrow that. And looking at him now, she was sure that he had looked at a calendar recently too, and was aware of the approaching date. She thinks that’s the reason he hasn’t spoken to her all week. None of them had spoken.
They needed a push. A nudge in the right direction. Something to spark up their common interests and thoughts of how it used to be, something to bring them closer again. She was sure that once they were laughing together again, that would break down the awkward wall between them, and they could start from there. They had made dents in it, but it still remained strong between them, and it was exhausting for both of them.
“Hey Fire Guy, did you make a bomb too?” Kevin chuckled near her, and she turned to see Ryan shake his head and look at the ground.
“That’s not nice, Kevin!” Kelly retaliated, and Pam began to drown them out again.
The thoughts continued to flip over in her mind, and she remembered last year, when Ryan had earned his name. She remembered laughing with Jim in front of the fire truck, she remembered his body hovering over hers as they stood by Dwight’s car, and she remembered the relationship that they had then. Free of this awkwardness, this triangle that they all made.
Screw it.She said to herself, and stepped away from the car that she was leaning on.
“Hey everybody!” She started shyly, then clapped her hands together as she gained the confidence.
Pammy was getting what she wanted, and she would kick your ass if you called her that.
“Come on, this is really boring, everyone gather around.” Slowly, everybody came together in a circle. Jim came before Karen did, and stood by Pam out of habit, a few guys from warehouse mingled into the crowd, and Bob Vance stood beside Phyllis. Slowly, Karen walked out from underneath the tree, and stood beside Andy, across the circle from where Jim stood with Pam. Dwight made his way away from the police men and stood innocently beside Angela. Michael joined in despite attempts to tell him the circle was full.
“Alright, we all know how this goes by now, those of you new to Dunder Mifflin catastrophe’s will soon catch on.” Pam said, taking control of the group. “We need games, Desert Island is understood.” She said, looking towards Jim and smiling as she waited for other input.
“Would you rather.” Jim stated, and Pam nodded in agreement.
“Who would you do.” Kevin snorted, and everyone laughed at the awkward memories from last year.
“Truth or Dare.” Phyllis said shyly as Bob Vance agreed, and Pam nodded her head.
“Okay, one more.” Pam said, keeping the count at 4 on her fingers.
“I never” came quietly from Karen on the other side of the circle, and everyone quickly agreed as the fifth finger was pulled up, and they had their afternoon planned in front of them.
“Okay, we’ll start with ‘I never’.” Pam stated, “Karen, since you suggested it, you get to tell us how you want to play.”
Karen looked around unsurely at first, then smiled and began explaining her favorite version of the rules. “Okay, everyone holds up ten fingers. We go around the circle, and you have to say something you’ve never done, if someone else in the circle has done it, they have to put a finger down. First person with all their fingers down loses, and the person with the least down at the end gets all the bragging rights for being the most innocent in the office.”
Everyone nodded understandingly, and soon hands were held up all around the circle as Karen began. “I’ve never had a one night stand.”
Meredith, Creed, and Phyllis all put down a finger. Bob Vance was surprised.
“Nice.” Jim said under his breath, as Pam laughed quietly.
The game made it’s way around the circle, pausing for a long time at Creed while he tried to think of something he had never done.
“I’ve never gotten a divorce!” Michael yelled, and watched while Toby put down a finger, followed by Meredith.
“I’ve never been engaged” came from Kelly, and Ryan could feel her eyes on him.
Several people lowered a finger, and Pam knew Jim was watching as she lowered hers.
By the time it was Pam’s turn to go, Meredith was losing, followed by Creed, and Angela and Dwight were very proudly in the lead.
“I’ve never owned a beet farm.” Pam said smiling, and a loud exhale came from Dwight as he lowered his first finger. Jim smirked, and Pam turned subtly and winked at him.
“I’ve never been to a Battlestar Gallactica convention.” Jim stated, and another exasperated sigh came from Dwight as he shook his head and set another finger down.
Darrel stood beside Jim, and was happy to join in the game. “I’ve never shot a spud gun.”
“Tough luck, man.” Michael said sincerely, and Dwight kicked the ground.
By the time the game made it’s way back around to Pam, Dwight had put down his last finger, since he had, surprisingly, seen Lord of the Rings over 50 times. Pam smiled proudly as Jim smirked beside her. Angela shook her head, still ten fingers strong.
“Okay, Dwight loses, Angela obviously wins, even though I’m sure there’s stuff she’s not telling us.” Pam said coyly as Angela glared. “Creed wins bonus points for the most creative ‘I never’ facts, and Phyllis can take some points for surprising us all.”
Everyone clapped approvingly to the winners, and gave their most sincerest fake apologizes to Dwight, who could not believe his luck.
“Okay, so, floor goes to you Jim, walk us through ‘Would You Rather.’” Pam stated, gesturing Jim into the spotlight.
“Okay ladies and gentleman.” Jim said as he moved inwards towards the circle. He missed commanding the office like this, and smiled at the memories of Olympics and the past fire. “For this edition of ‘Would You Rather’ we will start with me, and go around clockwise. When it is your turn you must pick one person in the circle and ask them a ‘Would You Rather’ question, there are no options for ‘either’ or ‘both’, you can not cheat. You can ask anyone in the circle you want, but a person can only be asked one question each rotation. Questions? No. Okay.” Jim said smiling as he stepped back between Pam and Darryl, then thought quickly of what to ask.
“Michael.” Jim stated, and Michael smiled as he felt a moment of importance. “Would you rather lose your ability to do magic, or your ability to tell jokes?”
Smirking, Michael looked at the camera. “Well, the world would certainly miss both.”
Everyone but Dwight and Andy rolled their eyes all the way to the back of their heads.
“But, I would rather lose my ability to do magic. Sometimes, it gets really hard, trying to get out of those jackets.” He shook his head as he looked quickly at the ground. “I’m much better at jokes anyways.”
Jim nodded, “Fair enough. Darryl, go.”
Darryl looked around the circle, trying to find a face he was familiar enough with. “Pam.” He stopped on, and caught her off guard. She said several silent prayers that the question had nothing to do with Roy. “Would you rather freeze or burn to death?”
Pam grimaced, and tilted her head. “Freeze. I don’t want to smell my own skin burning.”
Several people mumbled in agreement.
The game continued in much the same manner around the circle. Kelly would rather lose the ability to talk instead of losing the ability to have children. Ryan agreed very quickly to going deaf instead of blind. Angela would kill herself before she went hunting.
“Jim-bo.” Michael stated when it got to his turn in the circle. Jim grimaced, his own game backfiring on him. The choices for the question he was about to be asked spun too fast in his head, Michael had no self control.
“Would you rather...” Michael began, then snorted, cracking himself up in his own head. “Would you rather have to sit facing Karen or Pam all day ?”
