A Tale of Two Guys
Chapter 2
Roy
"If you don’t know me by now, you will never, never, never know me…" Simply Red crooned, on Rock 107, waking Roy from a deep sleep. The clock radio was over on Pam’s side and she was the one who usually turned it off, and made sure he got up on time every morning. However, this morning, when he turned over, Pam wasn’t there. Roy slid over to punch the snooze button, noticing that her side of the bed was cold and still tucked in, wondering where Pam was, and trying to remember through his haze of sleep, what time she had gotten in last night from that stupid Casino party.
There was no sound of the shower running or even the drip of the leaky showerhead, which usually lasted after Pam’s shower until he got up and turned the knob tighter than she could. Suddenly awake, he realized that he never had heard Pam come in last night. Worried, he jumped out of bed, and still in his tee shirt and boxer shorts, went looking through their small apartment for some sign of her.
It didn’t take him long to find her, in the kitchen, sitting hunched over at the tiny table. Her back was to him, but she was apparently still wearing her purple dress from last night and a sweater, which she clutched about her as though she were cold.
Roy wasn’t exactly quiet when he walked, but when he called her name, "Pam," she jumped as though he had snuck up on her.
"Roy," she said, sounding flustered, "Is it time to get up already?"
He came around the table and saw that Pam was nursing a cup of coffee. He was shocked at how pale she looked, her eyes red and swollen, and the little mascara she wore, smeared around her eyes. A pile of crumpled tissues surrounded the coffee cup.
"My God, Pam…what happened to you? Were you in an accident? When did you get home?"
"No, no..nothing like that. I’m fine. Angela drove me home. I got home at about 11:30. You were sound asleep…I didn’t want to wake you."
Roy looked confused.. "You could have woken me. I wouldn’t care, you know that. I might even have liked it…you know.." he said with a smirk, but Pam just stared at him. "What’s the matter? You look like you’ve been cryin’. Are you sick?" He had a sudden frightening thought, "Hey..you’re not..you know.."
"No." Pam said flatly, "NO. Definitely not."
Roy looked relieved, "Hey good. I mean, not that we don’t want to have kids and all, but it’s better to wait until after the wedding. My Mom would have a fit if everybody was busy counting on their fingers.."
"Roy, " Pam said miserably, " I have to talk to you. Come sit down. Would you like some coffee? I just made a new pot."
Roy sat down, puzzled, and watched Pam as she got up and poured a cup of coffee for him and some more for herself. She was acting so weird this morning, not like her usual self at all. Yet, last night she had been in such a good mood. He hadn’t even tried to drag her away from the Casino Night, even though he was bored with it after an hour, because she was having so much fun.
"Did something happen last night? Did somebody put the moves on you? That sicko…Dwight? I wouldn’t put anything past him." Roy didn’t trust any of those idiots upstairs…the only decent guy up there was Halpert.
"Roy. Please, just listen, okay?"
Roy sat back in his chair and folded his arms. But Pam didn’t say anything. After about thirty seconds he turned and looked at the clock on the microwave," Hey Pam, listen, it’s after seven thirty already. Neither of us are exactly ready for work, here. And the whole warehouse has to be cleaned up by noon today, or Darryl’s gonna have a fit. Can we talk about whatever this is later?" He got up and headed towards the bedroom.
"Jim kissed me." Pam said.
"What!?" Roy stomped back into the kitchen, furious, "Halpert? That son of a bitch! I’ll knock his block off!"
Pam was frightened, "Wait, Roy...it wasn’t like that. And don’t you touch him! It wasn’t like that! Just calm down."
Startled by Pam’s vehemence, Roy stopped and stared at her, "So what was it like, then?" he said quietly.
"He told me that he loves me. Wait, Roy…just listen to me for once! He’s leaving Scranton. Transferring to the branch in Stamford. Connecticut. It was just a goodbye kiss. That’s all. It was nothing. But..I..I just thought you should know."
"Damn right I should know! When’s he leaving?"
"Right away. He starts Monday. Today will be his last day, uh, here in Scranton."
"Well, then I guess I won’t have to kill him...Pam I’m kidding, don’t look at me like that! Look, I’m not crazy about the idea of some guy being in love with my fiancée, but if he’s leaving town, and nothing’s changed with us, well, then I’m not about to go medieval on his ass, Okay? And nothing’s changed with us, right?" he looked down at Pam, who was looking down twisting her ring.
"Pam? Pam!" Pam looked up, her expression, unreadable. "What did you say to him?"
"I..I told him I c-couldn’t. He said he just wanted me to know."
"Know what? Pam...did he tell you crap about me? Because that thing with the waitress at Chili’s, that was totally a joke, you know that."
Pam shook her head, " I know, Roy. No. he didn’t say anything about you at all. Neither of us did."
Suddenly Roy sank down into the chair opposite her and put his face in his hands.
"Roy…what is it?"
Roy looked up at Pam, his face devastated, "So you didn’t mention me at all? Like, for instance, ‘I’m in love with Roy and we’re getting married on June 10th, so take your transfer and get out of my life?’ Nothing like that?"
Pam shook her head, "I didn’t know what to say."
"Why not, Pam? Why didn’t you? It seems real simple to me. And, if all this meant nothing to you, why were you sitting here all night staring at the wall? I don’t understand."
"I was just trying to figure things out."
"Pam. What the hell is there to figure out? We’re getting married in three weeks. The invitations are out. We’ve got a pile of response cards. Oh…and I hired a band last night! Kevin’s band, Scrantonicity! They’re really good!"
Pam burst into tears.
Roy jumped up and went over to Pam and put his arms around her, "Oh Jeez, Pam, don’t cry. You know I hate it when you cry. Look...I know I haven’t been pulling my weight with this wedding thing. But I got the band, anything else you need me to do, just let me know, okay?"
Pam wiped her eyes with the driest tissue she could find on the table, "I can’t marry you, Roy."
"What?"
"I’m really sorry, but I just can’t. I’ve been sitting here all night thinking, and I just can’t make it work out for us."
Roy stood up. "Are you in love with Halpert?"
Pam looked down, "I-I don’t know."
Roy pounded the table with his fist. "Christ, Pam! How can you tell me this? We’ve been together for ten years! Look… I know I don’t tell you that I love you all the time, but you know I do. And I thought that you loved me."
"I do, Roy. I always will. But I can’t marry you. Not when I have all these doubts. It wouldn’t be fair to either of us."
She stood up and stretched, the purple dress crumpled. "God. We have to get ready for work. We’re going to be late, as it is. We can settle this over the weekend and I have to find a place to live. Maybe Stacy will let me move back in for a while. "
Roy’s shoulders slumped, "What about Halpert? You going to go running off to Stamford or wherever the fuck he’s going?"
Pam smiled, sadly. "No, Roy. I’m not. Believe it or not, this really isn’t about him. He just got me thinking that’s all. Something I haven’t been doing too much of lately. Actually, I’m thinking of taking that Internship in New York. Remember, the one Jan told me about? "
"Is that what this is all about? ‘Cause I didn’t want you taking that goddamn internship?"
"It’s part of it. I just want to be able to go after my dreams, is all. I’m just not ready to settle down and be a wife right now. I want to be more than that."
Roy sighed. "Okay, Pam. Why don’t you go and take your shower first? I just want to sit here and have my coffee. You had all night to think about this. I have to do some thinking, myself."
Pam disappeared into the bedroom. Roy slumped into the chair Pam had vacated and sat staring at the wall, the cup of coffee untouched at his hand.
