A Tale of Two Guys

Chapter 4

Roy and Jim

Roy and the foreman, Darryl, pushed the huge roulette wheel over to the loading dock where the poker table and craps table were waiting for the rental company to come pick them up, sometime around noon, they said. The warehouse was a mess. Not quite as bad as the time that Michael had decided to have that stupid meeting down here, and had acted like a one man wrecking crew, but pretty bad. That was fine by Roy. Hard work was what he needed to keep him from having to think. He’d already been thinking so much this morning that he had a headache.

"Hey, what’s eatin’ you, man? You haven’t said word one all morning." Darryl stood up and rolled up the sleeves of his uniform.

"Nothing’, Got a headache." said Roy, not wanting to talk about it, even to his best friend.

"You didn’t drink much last night. In fact, you cut out early...you go out somewhere after?"

"Nah. Just home. Maybe I’m coming down with something. Hey...did you happen to see Pam after I left, last night?" he said, trying to sound casual. "What time did she leave?"

"Well, " Darryl thought about it, "I don’t remember seeing her at the party after you left, but I did see her get in the car with that uptight blonde chick the same time I was getting in my car, about 11:15. Why? You think she was up to something?" Darryl liked Pam well enough, but tended to be suspicious of women in general.

"Nah. Everything’s cool, " he lied. That was stupid. Darryl was in his wedding party. But every time he thought of Pam’s engagement ring laying in that little round dish on the dresser, where she left it this morning, his throat closed up and he wanted to punch something. Or someone. Let Pam tell everybody the big news. That the wedding was off, and that he had been thrown over for some pencil pushing, white collar paper salesman with a stupid haircut and a goofy smile.

He looked up, and was shocked to see the paper salesman in question coming down the stairs from the office. Roy could hardly believe his eyes. He stood there, arms folded, fist clenched, and waited for him to come downstairs.

Jim had managed to sneak out of the office without the cameraman following him downstairs, which was the last thing he needed. Sure it would probably be Must See TV when Roy cleaned his clock for him, but he would much rather do this in private. And maybe, just maybe, Roy would be less likely to deck him if he weren’t on camera. He saw Roy waiting for him at the foot of the stairs, looking coldly furious. The other warehouse guys were starting to turn around as though sensing the tension in the air. Well, it was officially too late to turn around and run, which every cell in Jim’s body was screaming at him to do.

Halpert came down the stairs, looking somewhat like a scared rabbit, but he still came, and Roy was impressed, in spite of himself.

"You sure have balls. I’ll say that for you, Halpert."

"Roy. Hey...Listen…I-I need to talk to you, man." He noticed the crowd of Roy’s friends beginning to gather. Well, maybe four guys weren’t exactly a crowd, but these were big guys. And one big woman. "In private?"

"What are you doin’ down here, Halpert? And where’s your pet cameraman?" sneered Darryl. He had no idea what was going down, but if there was going to be a conflict, he wanted to come in on Roy’s side right from the get go.

While it was good that Darryl and the others had his back, Roy didn’t want to talk about Pam in front of them. He gestured towards the loading dock, "Outside!" And signaled Darryl to keep the others inside.

Jim had no choice but to follow him out the big doors to the side yard, where they had all hung out the day of the fire. Well, outside was good. Wouldn’t want to get blood all over the warehouse floor. Roy glared at him.

"I like the way you look after my fiancée for me, Halpert! Nice job!"

Jim resisted the impulse to say that Pam could look after herself, trying not to be confrontational. "Listen, man. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, or upset Pam. I just want to explain to you, face to face, what happened. Seems only fair."

"Are you gonna explain why I shouldn’t bash your face in?"

Jim shook his head; "You don’t want to do that. You like working here, right? Why jeopardize it over me? I’m gonna be out of here after today, anyhow. I just want to tell you what happened, okay?"

"My wedding is off. You wanna explain that?"

Jim sighed, "Listen, Roy. I’ve been in love with Pam since the first day I met her. She was already engaged to you, so I never said anything. Never did anything. I just want to make that clear. That there’s been nothing going on behind your back. And Pam...she never did anything to lead me on or anything. It wasn’t like that. I just couldn’t help feeling the way I felt, you know? But last night, I decided to take a new job in Stamford. So I told Pam how I felt. And I kissed her, and that’s pretty much it. You can blame me as much as you want, but none of this is her fault."

Roy stared at him, nonplussed. How do you hate a guy who just comes up to you and lays it all on the line like that?

"But I’m not going to pretend that I’m sorry that Pam called off the wedding, " Jim continued, afraid that he was getting on to very thin ice, here, "You’re a nice guy, Roy, but Pam wants more out of life, then she would get married to you. I’m sorry, Roy, but I think she deserves to have what she wants."

"And that would be you? Is that what she wants? You?" Roy shook his head, incredulously, "I don’t believe it. I don’t care what she says!"

Jim felt a surge of hope at Roy’s words, but tried not to show it, " I don’t know if she wants me or not. I wish she did, but I just don’t know. Maybe someday. After she’s had a chance to dream a little. Meantime, I’m leaving. And I’ve got to get back upstairs. Goodbye Roy." Jim turned and walked back into the building, leaving Roy standing outside, in the May sunshine.

A minute later Darryl came out and Roy finally told him what had happened this morning, and that there wasn’t going to be a wedding. Darryl patted him on the back, sympathetically, and they went back inside to finish cleaning up the warehouse.