Ryan picked up his red-checkered basket brimming with cheese fries and nestled his Mountain Dew in the crook of his arm as he searched for a place to sit in the very crowded student center at Scranton Community College.  The place usually wasn’t this packed and he figured that because it was the start of the summer session, a lot of people had gotten there early to get their bearings or to reconnect with old friends. As he worked his way through the crowded tables he heard snippets of conversation about new classes, difficult instructors and bars to hit after class that evening.

He had been taking classes here for over a year to supplement his business school curriculum and pad his resume, so he was familiar with the whole scene. He kind of liked the chaos of the student center despite the fact that finding a place to crash was looking to be next to impossible. Big tables that sat eight took up the entire center of the room. It was here that people with more energy than he did sat around and argued about philosophy, religion, politics and economics. He didn’t mind a spirited discussion, but he was just here to learn, get his degree and get on with his life.  For those more interested in studying or quiet conversation, two sides of the room were lined with fast-food restaurant style booths. The other two sides of the teal and orange room were lined with counters to purchase food and drinks. Even though SCC was only a small, community college, the place did have a lot of snack options…and snacking was very important to Ryan.  He usually opted for pizza or a sub instead of a salad or smoothie, but sometimes he chose the sushi which was actually pretty good. He wasn’t much of a cook and it was nice to have options. Today, though, he had been forced to eat 3 pieces of ice-cream cake during one of Michael’s ridiculous parties, so he wasn’t really all that hungry.

He was thinking he should just take his fries outside where he could find a place to sit on the grass and read the sports section he had tucked under his arm when he saw her. He was a little surprised; he never imagined he’d run into someone from work here at school. She was sitting in one of the booths, a yogurt parfait sitting in front of her. She looked different than she did at work. Her hair was down, held in place by a headband and she was wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt. He imagined she was wearing jeans, but couldn’t see her legs under the table.  She was sketching something on an oversized pad and he was glad she was busy because he really didn’t want to have to go over and talk with her. He was happy to leave Dunder-Mifflin behind at 5:30 every day and didn’t need to encourage extra-office conversations.

Just then, she looked up to take a bite of her parfait and she saw him and smiled. Shit. Now that they had made eye-contact he knew he’d have to go and talk with her. Damn his plans for some quiet time with the paper before his 7:00 class.

“Hey,  Pam.”

“Ryan. What’s up?”

“Just waiting for my class to start and getting a snack.  You?” He shifted back and forth on the balls of his feet trying to juggle his cheese fries, drink and paper. Hopefully this conversation wouldn’t take too long and hopefully she wouldn’t invite him to join her.

“Me too. Why don’t you have a seat? I’ve got plenty of room and you look like you could stand to put some of that down.” She was smiling at him and he thought to himself that he really had never had a one-on-one conversation with her that didn’t involve a work-related task.

“Um….thanks. I appreciate it.”  He didn’t have the energy to use one of his patented Howard excuses and he did need a place to sit. As he placed his snacks down on her table and slid into his side of the booth, he glanced at his watch and noticed that it was twenty after six. He could make small talk for twenty-five minutes or so before taking leave to head off to class.  “So, how about Michael’s party today? That was pretty crazy.” He was lapsing into breakroom speak….talking about Michael, Dwight and Angela’s quirky personalities was pretty much the only thing he and his co-workers ever really talked about.

“Um, if it’s okay with you, can we not talk about work? This is my place to get away from that, you know?” She had put her hand out on top of his…probably to stop him from saying more and he realized that in all the time he’s spent working with her, they had never touched….even accidentally before.

“Oh, yeah. Definitely. So, what class are you taking?” He pulled his hand away and popped a cheese fry into his mouth.

“It’s an introduction to portraiture. I’m trying to hone my technical skills and I’ve always pretty much sucked at drawing people.”

“That’s cool.” He was trying to be aloof because he didn’t need to know anything else about her, but he found himself getting sucked in as she flipped through some of the pictures in her sketch pad to show him that she ‘sucked’ at drawing people. He found himself actually listening as she explained who each person was supposed to be and giggling at some of the odd shapes their noses or mouths had taken.  She had limited herself to drawing famous people…Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, David Spade. Ryan could see that she was really talented. He didn’t know much about art, but he knew enough to see that these were pretty good. She just needed to refine some of her skills.

“So….what class are you taking?” she asked as she used her spoon to scrape the last bits of yogurt out of her parfait cup.

“It’s on internet entrepreneurship. I figure if I’m going to own my own business someday, I’ll have to manage a web presence. Can’t be like our company and not even have a website.”  He was absentmindedly flipping through her sketch pad when he came across one drawing that he clearly recognized. When she saw what he was looking at, she jumped a little in her seat and tried to take the book back.

“That’s…that’s just nothing. Just some doodles while I was bored at work.”

“It’s really good, Pam. This is the best one that I’ve seen here. Wow.” He didn’t want to say any more because he really didn’t want to get involved in the whole Jim/Pam drama, but he was struck by how life-like this portrait of the guy who sat next to him every day seemed. He knew a little of their history thanks to Phyllis and her never –ending gossip and he didn’t know where things stood between them these days. He really didn’t care.  He felt like he should say something, though. “I can tell that you um…..know him pretty well.”

“Well, I thought I knew him.” There was something in her voice as she said those words that got to him. He wasn’t a complete dick and realized he should say something comforting and hopefully stop her from asking him to talk to Jim for her. That’s a position he really didn’t want to be in.

“You know, Pam….you could say something to him. I mean…..”

“Ryan, I appreciate your concern, but like I said, I’d really rather not talk about work.” There was a finality to her words and he understood that to push any further would be going way beyond the bounds of their almost non-existent relationship. He was all about maintaining the status quo.

“That’s cool. So, you like yogurt, huh?” He gestured to her empty plastic cup. What a stupid thing to say. What was this, a blind date?

“What?  Oh, this? Yeah, I guess it’s okay.” She seemed almost embarrassed by her choice in after-work snacks.

“It’s just that, you eat it every day for lunch so I just figured.” He was definitely sounding like an idiot now. And a stalker.  It was just that most memories he had of Pam in the breakroom or kitchen were of her swirling her spoon through a yogurt container.

“What can I say? I’m not much of a risk-taker. I always order the same thing off of the menu.” The way she said it and the way she looked at him, her eyes half hooded and downcast, made it seem as if she was sharing an incredibly intimate secret about herself.  He didn’t want to read anything into it, but it almost felt like he was being issued a challenge. Suddenly, things had gotten uncomfortable.

“Want a cheese fry? They’ve gotten kind of cold and gluey, but they still taste pretty good.” He pushed his basket of half-eaten fries toward her, almost hoping she’d take one.

“Um….no thanks. I’m good. I should get going. I want to get a good seat in front. Thanks for keeping me company.” She gathered up her sketch pad and tossed her yogurt container into the trash bin next to their booth. As she started to walk away, she turned back and smiled slightly. “Maybe we’ll see each other here next week.”

“Yeah. Maybe. That would be cool.  We can save each other a seat.” Why was he agreeing to this?

“Bye, Ryan.”

“Bye, Pam.”

An hour later he was supposed to be listening to his instructor give the details about the website project they’d be completing this term. All he could think about, though, was Pam and the way she looked at him when she confessed that she liked to play things safe.