He walked back into the reception hall and made a beeline for Karen. He tapped on her shoulder, expecting to get his usual warm, Karen welcome from her. However, when she turned around, her brow was furrowed and her lips were tight – she looked extremely angry.

“What?”

“Did Michael get home okay?”

“Yeah, he’s fine.”

“Oh really? Because he was just allowed back inside about five minutes before you arrived.”

His heart caught in his chest and he could feel his face start to flush, even though he clearly knew that nothing that happened between him and Pam at her apartment.

“So who did you drive home? Or where were you?” her foot was tapping rapidly on the floor and she looked like she could take him down with one fatal blow.

“Uh…” he stammered around the question for a few brief moments but when he looked into her eyes, he just couldn’t lie. “I brought Pam home.”

“Oh.” Her eyes were wide and he could see disappointment written on every inch of her body.

“She was drunk and…”

“Take me home, Jim.”

“Okay.” He didn’t want to fight this.

He tried to reach out to hold her hand or link her arm through his, but she quickly pulled away from his grasp. With each step, the key to Pam’s apartment bouncing against his upper thigh seemed to burn a hole in his pocket.

“Why didn’t you just tell me you were taking her home?” they were sitting in his car now, on their way to Karen’s apartment.

“I don’t know.”

“Did you fuck her?” he swerved slightly at the directness of her question, slightly taken aback that she would imply such a thing – even though when the two of them had left the reception earlier in the evening they had had every intention of going back to Pam’s apartment to have sex.

“No!”

“Why did you pause?”

“Because I can’t believe you would imply such a thing!”

“Why I would imply such a thing…” she sounded like she was mocking him. “Let’s see…you’re the one that yelled out her name the first time that we had sex. I still can’t believe I forgave you for that. You’re the one that was continuously looking at her this evening.”

“So what…”

“You told me you were bringing Michael home!”

Jim sighed as he rounded the street corner towards Karen’s apartment.

“I’m sorry,” he tried to sound as sorry as he possibly could.

“Whatever.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared out her side window. He contemplated reaching across, putting a hand on her knee or gently rubbing on her elbow to get her to come back around, but he didn’t. He stayed as stoic as she was and the two of them sat in silence for the next two minutes until he pulled into Karen’s driveway.

“Can I…”

“No, you can’t come in.” She slammed the door of his car as she stumbled up to the steps of her place. He rolled down the window and called out after her.

“Karen!”

“What?” she practically screamed.

“Please…”

“Jim,” she stumbled back towards his car but kept a safe distance away from where he was sitting so she would not fall back and get lost in his magnetic charm again. “Please. Just…don’t. Don’t call me. Don’t come by here. If I decide to talk to you again…I’ll call you. Okay? Okay.”

She didn’t even give him a chance to respond before she turned around and marched up to her door. Even from his car, he could hear her as the door of her apartment slammed behind her.

He sat in his car for a couple of minutes. He was stunned. He didn’t really know what to do. He reached into his pocket and withdrew the key that he had taken from Pam. He looked at the key then looked up towards Karen’s window. The key then the window.

What would the harm be in going back to Pam’s apartment? For all he knew, the relationship that he had with Karen was over. The words that Pam had told him earlier, “I want you to fuck me” rang over and over in his mind. It was so unlike her to be that forward, but maybe she really wanted it. Maybe she just wanted someone to be with her for the night.

As he looked back up at Karen’s apartment window, he quickly made up his mind. He would just go to Pam’s apartment again.

He pulled into the parking lot for her building and slowly made his way up the stairs to where she lived. The lights were still out. She was probably asleep at this point. He turned the key in the lock and slowly stepped inside the apartment. It was now or never.