Valentines Day 2006

Pam smiled when the three businessmen walked in at exactly 12:30 for their lunches. Finally, something to get her mind off of the depressing nature of the romantic holiday. Her entire morning had been a barrage of questions from Kelly ranging from what she thought she was going to do this evening, what she wanted to do this evening, who her “Valentine” was, who she wishes her “Valentine” was, what she had done in the past for Valentines Day and so on and so forth. She was ready for the welcome break that Michael, Ryan and Jim presented her with.

“Ohmigod Pam!” Kelly tugged on Pam’s arm a couple of times as she watched them walk into the restaurant.

“Ohmigod Kelly!” she repeated, mimicking Kelly perfectly.

“Ohmigod. It’s Ryan. Ohmigod,” Kelly squealed quietly against the back of Pam as she darted behind her friend to watch Ryan enter without him seeing her.

“So Kelly…” Pam turned around and placed her hands on Kelly’s shoulders. “What’s up?”

“Can you wait their table today, Pam?” she begged. “Please oh please oh please?”

“It’s your table they’re sitting at,” Pam said quietly.

“I know, but it’s just…” her eyes darted back and forth. “Well, Ryan and I totally went out for dinner last night. A nice dinner, Pam. A really nice dinner. And then afterwards, I invited him back to my place because I really didn’t want the night to end, you know? And he came over and…Pam…”

“And what,” Pam said with an exaggerated deep breath and fake anticipation for what Kelly was about to say.

“We totally made out,” Kelly gushed. Pam looked over her shoulder as Ryan shot a glance at the two of them. Pam bit her tongue and avoided asking Kelly whether or not he was going to be taking her to the prom, or if they were “going steady” now and simply stifled a laugh.

“So you want me to wait on their table, even though it’s clearly yours, and you’re clearly going to miss out on a lot of money here,” Pam said plainly. Kelly nodded. “Okay.” She smoothed her skirt over her legs and walked out to the table the three men were sitting at.

“Hello,” she said with a cheery smile.

“Pam-a-lama-ding-dong,” Michael said with a lot of cheer in his voice. “How are you doing this fine day of our Saint Valentines?”

“Uh…” she stammered at the odd phrasing of the question. “I’m fine, thank you Michael.”

“Wonderful!” he exclaimed loudly. “I suspect that you have a sexy date all lined up for this evening?” Pam blushed slightly and lowered her head a little.

“No Michael, I do not,” she said quietly. “Can I get you three anything to drink today?”

“I!” Michael opened his mouth and spoke before the other two could get a word out. “I will have a scotch on the rocks.”

“Michael, we have to be back at the office in an hour,” Ryan said calmly.

“And I will have you, my dear Pam, make the drink,” Michael finished.

“Why me?” Pam asked.

“Because you’re always a little more generous than Angela,” Michael said as he looked over Jim’s shoulder at Angela taking an order from another table.

“You know, Dwight really isn’t a big fan of the waitresses getting the alcoholic drinks,” Pam said truthfully. He allowed it during lunch time, but it didn’t mean that he liked the idea of a waitress doing a bartender’s job.

“Then Dwight can go to hell because I want my little Pammy serving up my scotch on the rocks,” Michael said. Pam cringed at Michael calling her ‘Pammy’ and when she shot a glance across the table at Jim, he smiled at her and rolled his eyes ever-so-slightly, making her feel a little happier.

“Then it’s a scotch on the rocks,” she said with a forced smile. “What about you two?” She shot a glance to both Ryan and Jim.

“Coffee,” Ryan said burying his face in his menu.

“Coffee,” Jim said with an earnest smile.

“I’ll be right back then,” she said and walked behind the bar.

“Ohmigod Pam,” Kelly said jumping up from behind where she stood pouring scotch into a short glass. “Did he say anything about me? Did he? Did he?”

“Who? Ryan?” Pam asked. Kelly nodded vigorously. “He said nothing. Just that he wanted coffee.”

“Can I bring it to him? Can I? Can I?” Kelly asked, Pam laughed at how much Kelly could remind her of her young cousins sometimes.

“Go ahead,” Pam said waving her off. “As long as you get Jim a cup too.”

She laughed briefly as Kelly skipped away to the coffee machine, but her laughter quickly turned to a feeling of sadness as she looked out the window and saw a businessman walking down the street with an enormous bouquet of roses.

She had never been a big fan of Valentines Day in the past. Roy always went all out for the holiday though. He had a way of surprising her with the most bizarre and most beautiful flower arrangements and gift baskets. Last year for the holiday, he had arrived home late in the evening from football practice, but he had surprised Pam with two dozen roses, a teddy bear made entirely of chocolate and what he had promised her to be “the best sex of her life”. Unfortunately, he had fallen asleep on the couch that night watching ESPN, and Pam ended up in bed with a stomach ache for the next week from all of the chocolate. The huge bouquet or roses had been nice though.

This year, she had nothing to look forward to. No plans for the evening, class the next morning. She had working all day to look forward to; seeing happy couples dining in the restaurant for a pleasant evening out together. And she was stuck alone.

“I’m just saying, if we place the billboard in Times Square, we’ll get a lot more business is all,” Jim said as Pam returned to the table with Michael’s scotch on the rocks. “Don’t you agree, Pam?”

“What?” Pam asked, trying to think about what they were just talking about. “I didn’t hear the conversation.”

“Michael thinks that we should place a bunch of billboards around the city for this company we’re currently sponsoring,” Jim explained. “But I think we should just save our money and put up one in Times Square.”

“Does it cost a lot of money to put something up in Times Square?” Pam asked, though she really had no idea.

“She has a point, Jim,” Michael said pointing towards her and smiling as she set the glass of amber liquid in front of him.

“On the other hand,” Pam said thoughtfully, “Times Square advertises to the tourists.”

“That’s true too,” Jim said with a grin.

“But honestly, I have no idea,” Pam said with a shrug. “I’m just here to take your food orders.”

“I’ll have my usual,” Jim said. She smiled and nodded towards Ryan.

“Oh…I don’t know…” Ryan said as his eyes darted around the pages of his menu. “I’ll just have the turkey club. No fries and a salad.” Pam nodded and dreaded looking over at Michael, but forced herself to make eye contact and smile.

“Michael?” she asked.

“I want a steak,” he replied.

“A steak?” she asked.

“Yes, I want a steak,” he repeated.

“But we don’t usually serve steaks for lunch…”

“Give the man what he wants, Pam!” Dwight called from the kitchen. Pam jumped slightly at the sound of Dwight’s voice and nodded at Michael.

“A steak it is,” she said. “Anything with that?”

“Some fries,” he said with a childlike grin on his face.

“A steak and fries,” she said with a nod, “just for you, Michael.”

She placed their order and went back behind the bar to sit while she scanned over the tables she was waiting on. Her eyes always casually drifted back to the three businessmen who were such devoted regulars though.

It had been a mystery to her the first several months working at The Golden Beet trying to figure out what line of work the men were in. They were evidently wealthy, they always spoke about business during lunch – though she did a magnificent job of not eavesdropping on their conversations – and they were extremely friendly. At first she had thought that they were stock brokers working on Wall Street, and she went with that idea for a while. There was just something about them, the way they carried themselves, the way they acted around her and the other employees at the restaurant. The notion of them being stock brokers just didn’t quite work.

**

“Kelly,” Pam asked, pulling her aside. “What do they do?”

“Who?” Kelly asked looking around the restaurant. It was a busy day, there were a lot of people in for lunch and really, Pam could have been talking about anyone.

“Those three,” Pam said pointing discreetly. “Michael, Jim and Ryan.”

“You don’t know?” Kelly asked with wide eyes.

“I have no idea,” Pam replied, “I’ve been waiting on them for the past…five months? And I kind of want to know.”

“Wow,” she giggled. “You must be completely oblivious.”

“Just tell me what they do, Kelly,” Pam said tapping her foot impatiently.

“My god, Pam!” Kelly exclaimed quietly, so the three men sitting nearby wouldn’t hear. “They only work for like, the biggest advertising company in New York City.”

“Advertising?” Pam asked. Of course, it made so much sense. They were always talking about different locations around the city and around the Northeast.

“Sure!” Kelly replied. “I would bet you ten dollars that you saw at least two advertisements for at least one of the companies they sponsor on your way here today.”

“Who do they advertise for?” Pam asked, curious.

“Almost every large New York City charity you’ve ever heard of,” Kelly replied. “New York City’s public transportation system, several restaurants…”

“Ours?” Pam asked.

“Not ours,” Kelly replied. “Dwight doesn’t have that kind of money. This is more of a local favorite eatery anyway.”

“What else do they advertise for?” Pam asked quietly.

“I think they work with a couple of car companies…” Kelly replied thoughtfully. “Maybe Volkswagen? Then again, I might just be thinking that because Ryan has the cutest VW.” Pam nodded.

“Impressive,” she said.

“They’re really amazing, Pam,” Kelly said quietly, turning away when Jim looked over towards the two of them. “Really amazing.”

**

Pam darted back into the kitchen with dirty plates in her hands and dumped them into the tray next to the dishwasher.

“Pam, how late are you working today?” Dwight asked as she headed back towards the double doors.

“Seven o’clock,” she replied as she swung the door open, looking back over her shoulder and ran squarely into a hard body in front of her.

“Whoa! Whoa!” Jim exclaimed, hands up as he backed up against the wall quickly.

“Oh shit!” Pam exclaimed, covering her mouth quickly, realizing that she had just made a full frontal collision with him.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I wanted to talk to you anyway.”

“Oh?” she asked with a smile on her face, expecting the usual post-lunch, ‘You did a great job today, thank you.’

“Listen,” he replied with a shy smile on his face. “Were you serious earlier?”

“About what?” she asked looking out into the dining room and moving out of the way as a patron made her way down the hall to the bathrooms.

“When Michael asked if you had a…uh…I believe his exact wording was ‘sexy date’?” he asked, twisting his finger a bit in his hand.

“Oh,” she said, feeling a slight blush rise in her cheeks. “No. I mean. Yes. I mean…I don’t have any date lined up for this evening.” She felt herself becoming a bright shade of red that matched her top.

“Awesome,” he said with a smile, “because I…um…every Valentines Day I have a bunch of friends over to play stupid card games and drink and just have a decent good time. I wanted to know if you would be interested in coming by?”

“I…” she smiled shyly. “I’m your friend?”

“Sure,” he said with a compassionate grin. “Will you come?”

“Yeah, I get off here at seven,” she said happily. “Where will I be going?” He reached into his pockets and handed her a folded piece of paper.

“Here,” he said. “It says which subway to take, if you’re coming from around here. And my address…in case you get a taxi…and you’ll need the address anyway. And my phone number, just in case you get lost or decide you can’t come or something.”

“Awesome,” she said taking the paper and putting it deep into her pockets so she wouldn’t lose it.

“So you’ll be there?” he asked.

“I’ll be there,” she replied. He grinned, nodded and returned to his table where he, Michael and Ryan quickly departed once more.

When she returned to the table to pick up the receipts that they had left, she noticed that they had all tipped her even more so than usual.

She left work at 7:15 that evening after her last table had paid. She contemplated going home before searching for Jim’s, but at the last minute decided against it. She didn’t know how long it was going to take her to find his apartment building and she didn’t know how far away it was on the subway. After all, her red, cotton shirt and black skirt she had worn for work that whole day was plenty Valentines-y and it was plenty suitable for a fun night out with some friends.

As she sat on the subway, following the exact route that Jim had scrawled out for her, she wondered how many people would be there and what it would be like to interact around a bunch of people that weren’t complete football nuts or her family. For that matter, she had never been around businessmen in a non-business sense. Would all the people there be work acquaintances of Jim’s? Would Michael and Ryan be there? How would everyone be dressed? How would they act?

She hadn’t really felt nervous when she left work, but the closer she came to the stop she needed to get off at, the more anxious she became. She began to wonder if this was such a good idea. She started to contemplate pulling out her phone and calling Jim to cancel.

She stood up under power that she wasn’t entirely certain was her own and stepped towards the sliding doors of the subway car. The bell dinged, the doors opened and she rushed out along with a handful of other people making a beeline for the exit staircase.

She reached the street and looked around.

“Which way do I go?” she pulled out the now crumpled piece of paper Jim had handed to her earlier and searched his instructions in the dark. She knew that asking for instructions from a passerby on the street would get her no where. She learned that within the first couple weeks of living in the city. Reluctantly, she reached into her purse, pulled out her cell phone and dialed Jim’s phone number – possibly one of the only things left on the sheet that could be easily read.

“Jim?” she asked when she heard the phone pick up.

“Hang on…” she looked around her nervously. She didn’t feel like she was in a bad neighborhood, but she could never be certain. “Hey Jim! Some chick’s on the phone for you!” There was a long pause. “Hello?”

“Jim!” she said a little too happily maybe.

“Who is this?” he asked.

“It’s Pam,” she replied, there was a pause. “From the restaurant.”

“Of course, yes, I know,” he said. “What’s the matter?”

“I’m…lost,” she said quietly.

“Where are you?”

“I’m right outside of the subway entrance…I can’t read the rest of your directions.”

“Oh! Okay. So you should be facing a grocery store on the other side of the street, and you should be standing right in front of a small bank. Right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, go left, towards the pizza place on the corner.”

“Okay, walking.” She smiled.

“Now, you’re going to walk two blocks up that side of the street and then turn left when you reach a Subway…the restaurant, not another subway.”

“Kay.”

“Turn left at the Subway and my building is on the left side of the street, on the corner of the end of that block.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“You got all that?”

“Got it.”

“I’ll see you soon, Pam.”

“See you soon, bye!”

He lived in a brick town house. A town house! She walked up the steps to the front door where there were only two buzzers. She looked up at the two-story structure. So he owned half of this thing?

“Hey, you made it,” he swung open front door and she jumped.

“Jesus,” she said with a startled breath.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” he said. “Come in, come in.” He pulled her inside the door by her shoulder and she followed him through a second door which brought them to a small lobby with two doors.

“Which door?” she asked with a smirk.

“Well, one has lions, the other has booze,” he replied.

“Lions?” she asked. “I’ve always wanted to go on an Africa safari.” He laughed.

“No, the lions are just code for bitter old lady with too many cats,” he said as he pulled her into the door on the right.

There weren’t too many people there and that eased her mind a bit. They were all dressed casually, most in jeans, a couple still in their clothes from work. She immediately spotted Michael and Ryan sitting at the end of Jim’s dining room table, cards in hand and in the middle of an intense game. The rest of the faces were not familiar. There were a couple of other women there, but they were obviously there with some of the men. Pam nervously looked up at Jim.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I don’t know anyone,” she replied quietly.

“Well, you know Michael and Ryan over there,” he said pointing to the two of them.

“But no one else,” she said quietly, feeling a little pink in the cheeks.

“Okay, I’ll introduce you then,” he said. He cleared his throat loudly and placed a reassuring arm around her shoulders – unfortunately, it only turned her cheeks pinker.

“Hey! Pam’s here!” Michael called out as he looked up, sounding a little drunk.

“I guess there’s no need,” Pam said with a smile.

“Everyone!” Jim called out. Most people stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the door where the two of them were standing. “Sorry to interrupt, but this is Pam.” She looked up at him, wondering if he had exaggerated the ‘am’ in her name or if it was just in her head. “She is my friend. Be nice to her.”

“What an eloquent speaker you are,” Pam joked as she broke away from his arm.

“I try,” he said. “Do you want something to drink?”

“I don’t know, I have class first thing tomorrow morning…” she said thoughtfully.

“I’m making pink drinks,” he said with a shrug.

“Well, when you put it that way, they just sound even more dangerous,” she said with a smile.

“Beer?” he asked. She nodded.

She made it through the party and she found herself actually having a good time once she warmed up to some of the other people that were there. She met Matt and Justine, two of Jim’s friends from college that he had known for many years. Matt was still working his way through graduate school to become a lawyer and Justine worked as a nurse in small doctor’s clinic in Brooklyn. There was another friend of his from graduate school that now owned and operated a very small chain of restaurants around New York City. The other five people at the party however were straight from the advertising company that he worked for.

Everyone had been very nice to her, very interested in what she was doing and a couple guests even asked to see pieces of art that she had done. The party had been nothing like the parties that she and Roy had thrown. She felt like she had actually been a part of this. She hadn’t been corralled in with the rest of the women at the party and forced to talk about things that she didn’t care about. By the end of the night she felt so much better about herself, what she was doing and who she was. As far as she was concerned, it was the greatest party she had ever been to.

“I’ll see you at work tomorrow,” Ryan said as he plucked his coat from a peg next to the door.

“Great,” Jim said with a smile, “glad that you could come, Ryan.” He nodded and then Ryan looked over at Pam.

“Pam?” he asked. She perked up and looked him in the eyes.

“Yeah?”

“Um…can you tell Kelly that I’m sorry I didn’t call her?” Ryan asked nervously. “She wanted me to call her tonight but…uh…” he bit his lip and Pam smiled.

“Don’t worry, Ryan,” she said. “I’ll relay the message.” She knew as well as anyone that Kelly could be a handful a lot of the time. Kelly had probably been expecting an immediate response to the date that they had had, but Pam could tell just by looking at Ryan’s nervous demeanor that he wasn’t ready for a relationship like the one Kelly wanted.

“Thanks,” he said with a gracious smile. “See you later.”

“Bye, man,” Jim said as he playfully smacked Ryan on the back as he walked out the door.

“So…” Pam looked up at Jim once he closed the door. “I probably should be going.” She looked around and realized that she was the only one left.

“It’s only eleven,” he said looking at the clock on his wall. “I won’t make you drink, but I would like it if you stayed a bit longer.” The flush began to rise in her cheeks again and she swore that she giggled softly.

“But the subways…”

“I’ll pay for your cab ride back to your apartment,” he said.

“You’re too generous,” she said as she started to walk towards his dining room table.

“So what brings Pam…what’s your last name?” he asked.

“Beesly,” she replied with a smile.

“What brings Pam Beesly to the city that never sleeps?” he asked. She smiled.

“You know that, I wanted to go to art school,” she replied.

“Why?”

She sighed and the smile began to disappear from her face.

“Not the right question to ask?”

“No, it’s fine,” she said with a shake of her head.

“If it makes you feel better, I’ll let you ask me any personal question you could possibly want to throw at me,” he said.

“Fair,” she said, the smile returning slightly. “I moved to New York City to get away from my fiancé. God…ex-fiancé.”

“Did he chase you?” Jim asked.

“No,” she replied. “I thought he would, but he’s kept his distance pretty successfully. He’s tried to win me back with expensive gifts…that I sell back for rent money.” She smiled.

“Wow.”

“So Jim…”

“Halpert.”

“So Jim Halpert, what brings you into the wide world of advertising?” she asked with a smile.

“Really? That’s the question you want to ask me?”

“I’m curious.”

“I enjoy it. There’s nothing more that I like than making up catchy slogans that people will use and see on a continual day-to-day basis,” he said with a nod.

“So it’s like being a celebrity except no one knows you,” she said with a smile.

“Who says no one knows me?” he asked as he leaned towards her from across the table. She shrugged. “So what did you do before you came to New York?”

“Not…much,” she said quietly.

“You didn’t have a job? You didn’t go to school? Nothing?”

“No…” she became really quiet, “Roy didn’t like me working.”

“Are you serious?” he asked, his head dropping slightly.

“Serious,” she replied. “I mostly worked as a waitress when I had the chance. Usually during his down time when we needed a little bit more money.”

“What did he do?”

“He was a football player,” Pam replied flatly.

“For what team?”

“The AFL,” Pam replied.

“What?”

“Arena football. The NFL didn’t want him.” She laughed to herself at the thought of Roy playing in the NFL.

“Are you serious?” Jim asked, his mouth open in surprise. “Pam, you’re kidding with me, right?”

“No, I’m dead serious,” she replied with a shrug.

“So how far into the engagement did you make it?” he asked.

“Nine years,” she replied.

“Nine years?” his eyes widened. “Nine years!”

“I left him at the altar,” she said with a smile on her face, though she couldn’t quite figure out why she was smiling.

“You’re kidding.”

“All I had to do was say the vows and I would still be in Pennsylvania right now,” she said.

“Oh my god. Oh my god, Pam,” he said with a smile on his face. “I can’t believe you. I can’t. You have to be making this up.”

“I’m not,” she said with a smile, stifling a laugh. “God, I wish I was.”

“My god,” he said with a smile matching hers. “I think that you are now my coolest friend. And believe me, I have a lot of cool friends.”

“I’m your coolest friend?” she asked. “For leaving my fiancé during our wedding? I think that you need to start gauging your friends’ coolness by some other factor here.” Jim laughed. “I mean, I didn’t even realize we were even friends until you invited me over here tonight.”

“What?”

“Really, I thought you just liked the way I served you at the restaurant,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Well, you’re definitely my friend now. No way around it.”

“Thanks. I mean, really, thanks. I was beginning to think that I would be stuck with friends like Kelly and Angela for the rest of my life here.”

“Michael and Ryan are pretty fond of you too, you know,” Jim said. “Michael especially.”

“I guess I’ve noticed that,” she nodded.

“Seriously though,” he said, “that phone number I gave you earlier. Enter it into your phone. Call me whenever you want. Whenever you’re feeling lonely.” The blush returned to her cheeks. “I might be out of the state, out of the country, but I’ll still pick up. And I’ll talk to you.”

“Thanks.” She looked up at the clock, it was 11:30. Time had passed by so quickly.

“You need to get home, don’t you?” he asked, she nodded. “Come on, I’ll get you a cab.”

He grabbed both of their coats from the peg next to the door. He helped her into hers and quickly threw his own over his shoulder before stepping out of his apartment and pulling her along with him.

They stood on the street corner and waited for a cab to drive by.

“Thanks for coming tonight,” he said quietly as he looked back and forth down the street for a vehicle to appear.

“Thanks for inviting me,” she said. “If you hadn’t, I probably would have been stuck at home, halfway through a bottle of wine. Thanks to you, I won’t have a bad hangover in class.”

“You’re welcome,” he said as he looked the other way. “Oh hey, by the way, how long do you have left in school? I meant to ask you, but it slipped my mind.”

“I’ll just have next year. Luckily those two years I had before Roy convinced me I didn’t need it gave me a bit of a leg-up,” she said as she looked around.

“What do you think you’re going to do with the degree?” he asked.

“I want to do illustrations, I think,” she replied. “Like for children’s books. Maybe with a gallery on the side or something.” She smiled, her teeth hurting a bit against the cold air that surrounded them.

“Very cool,” he said with a nod. “Oh! Here’s a cab!”

He quickly jumped up in the air and waved his hand and the cab slowly pulled over to the side of the curb. He stepped down and opened up the door.

“Here,” Jim shoved a fifty dollar bill into Pam’s hand; she looked up at him with wide eyes.

“There’s no way I need all of this,” she said with a shake of her head.

“I…I know,” he said quietly. “It’s all that I have and…I don’t know, buy yourself some nice art supplies with whatever you have leftover.”

“Jim, I…”

“Hey lady, you coming or not?” the cab driver shouted back at the two of them.

“Yeah,” she said as she slipped towards the backseat of the vehicle.

“Or save it for next time. You can buy a couple cases of beer or something,” he said with a smile. “Don’t worry.”

“Jim…” He nodded. “I’m going to hunt you down tomorrow just so I can give you your change, you know that, right?” He laughed as she slipped into the seat.

“Goodnight Pam,” he said as he stepped up onto the sidewalk again. “Happy Valentines Day.”

“You too, goodnight,” she said as she closed the door. She waved at him as the driver sped off around the corner, and he rocked back and forth on his heels in the brisk night air until she was out of sight.