“Pam, please. It didn’t mean anything.”

Jim holds Pam’s arms, trying to make her look at him. He made a terrible mistake, and he has to fix it.

“No Jim. I can’t.”

Those two words sting more than her tears. They mean so little, yet so much.

“Baby please. I though I’d lost you, I was drunk. I don’t even remember her name.”

Pam shakes her head, Jim doesn’t know its in disbelief of rejection. He kisses her, with all he has, but she doesn’t even respond.

“Pam, I love you. Okay, I love you.”

“It hurts too much. Just the though of you and her,”

She slides free of his grip and walks to the door. She opens it, and stands beside it.

“Please go.” She pleads.

Jim stands his ground. “No Pam, I’m not letting this get away. It was a stupid fight, and I made a really bad choice, but I can’t lose you.” He’s crying now too.

“Just go.”

“Pam, please. I love you. I need you to know that.”

She doesn’t say anything, just withdraws more, and looks away. He walks over to her and wraps his arms around her, and it almost kills him when she winces at his touch.

“Jim, I can’t. That image literally makes me sick. If you love me at all, you’ll just leave me alone.”

In better circumstances, they would’ve laughed at her use of such a corny line. Now though, they are wrapped up in each other, tears streaming down both of their faces, both hearts shattered.

“Pam, I’ll go. Alright. But only if you understand that I love you and that I won’t give up on this. I’m not prepared to lose you again.”

When she doesn’t say anything, he places a gentle kiss on her forehead, lets her go, and walks away form the only woman he ever truly loved.

~~~~~~~~

Jim had been like this for the past week. Spending all his time trying to contact Pam, barely eating, then locking himself in his room for hours on end.

Mark wasn’t even sure what happened. When his girlfriend asked what was wrong with Jim, all he could tell her was that Jim and Pam “broke up” during a big fight. Then he went to a bar, got really drunk (Mark was there with him), and the next thing he knew, Jim was gone having sex with her. Technically he didn’t cheat on her, but he felt so guilty that when he threw up the next morning, Mark knew it wasn’t because of the hangover. Now, it was a week later, and they had really broken up, and Jim was a wreck.

“Seriously Jim. If you don’t come out of your room right now and eat something, I’ll throw your Wii out the window.” Jim opened the door at that.

“Jesus, you look like hell.” Jim had red puffy eyes from days of crying, his hair was messier then usual, he had a weeks worth of stubble, and he smelled really bad.

“Has Pam called?”

“Yes. She called 10 times while you were mopping, and I wasn’t going to tell you. Come on, I made pasta.”

“Thanks man.”

After dinner, Mark was washing the dishes, while Jim sat at the table staring at the phone.

“You know, a watched phone never rings.” Mark smiled.

Jim snapped out of it. “What? Sorry. I just can’t believe she hasn’t called.”

“She will Jim.” Mark reassured him for the thousandth time.

“What more can I do?”

“Shave, take a shower, and get out of the house?”

“Thanks.” He smirked.

“Come on man, she’ll come around. Just give her time. Chicks need that.”

Jim knew his friend was right. It was just so hard to wait. He thought he was done waiting.

“Hey listen Mark. Annie’s probably wondering what happened to you. You should go home.”

“You sure your not going to put on What Hurts the Most and slit your wrists in a bath tub?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. I’ll take a shower, change out of these sweats, and maybe go for a walk.”

“Alright.” Jim walked Mark to the door, and they hugged like guys do in these situations. When Mark opened the door to leave, he stopped dead in his tracks.

“What?” Jim asked.

“Um, hey Pam.” And he walked around her and left.

Pam was left standing awkwardly in Jims doorway.

“Um, can I come in?”

He was speechless, and just stepped aside for her. She walked in, and stood in the living room. Jim shut the door, turned to her, and just tried to capture the image that he thought he would never see again.

“Are you going to say anything?” She asked.

He said the first thing that came to his mind. “I never thought I would see you again.”

She smiled. “What about all that never giving up stuff, huh?”

“Oh that. Yeah, that was all talk.” He smiled back. They were bantering, that was a good sign, even if it was forced and awkward.

“Jim, listen-“

“No Pam. I’m so sorry. I’ve been a mess without you, as you can probably tell,” He motioned downward to his disheveled appearance. She smiled again.

“Jim. What you did, was inexcusable,”

He opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off.

“Please, just let me say this. What you did was, just beyond anything I thought you could ever do. I’ve spent some time thinking about it, and after a few days of throwing up and crying my eyes out, I’ve come to a conclusion,” she paused.

Jim waited what seemed like weeks, though it was only a few seconds, before asking, “Which is?”

Pam took a deep breath, and Jim was waiting as if his life depended on her answer, which he felt it did.

“I’ve decided that however horrible what you did was, I think I can forgive you.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” Jim started to walk over to her, but she held up her hand to stop him.

“On one condition.”

“Anything Pam, anything.”

“You have to swear that this was a one time thing, and that it’ll never, ever happen again. Look me in the eyes and promise me.”

Jim walked over to her, grabbed her hand and lifted it up to his mouth for a kiss. He looked deep into her eyes, and said, “I promise that you are the only one from now until the day I die.”

And then he lowered his lips to hers, and kissed her again with everything he had. He hugged her so tight, she thought she might suffocate, but she didn’t care. It just felt good to be in his arms. She started giggling, and he stopped nuzzling her neck to look at her.

“What is so funny?”

“That was such a cheesy line.”

And they both started laughing. Jim scooped her up in his arm, and started carrying her towards the bathroom.

“What…where are we going?”

“I haven’t showered in a week. And I need help with the hard to reach spots.”

The End