Ryan stared at the phone, trying to drum up the energy to call Jim. Ryan was one week away from celebrating his escape from the Scranton office. To this day, Ryan felt a certain queasiness in his stomach when he had to call over there. Jim made him the most uncomfortable, largely because of the little moments they had shared when Ryan first took the job in New York.
It frustrated Ryan to no end that he had let his guard down in a moment of weakness and loneliness, going so far as to ask Jim to go into business with him someday. Not that Ryan felt like this was an entirely bad idea, but more because he worked so hard to remain detached in Scranton. He couldn’t believe he put so many of his cards on the table to Jim when he had finally been able to leave Scranton.
And now Ryan had to call Jim specifically, and had no idea how to begin the conversation. He decided that the best way to approach this was not to volunteer all the information at once, saving the information he knew Jim would not like for later.
Ryan grudgingly picked up the phone, knowing procrastinating would not help the situation.
“Dunder-Mifflin, this is Pam.”
“Pam, is Jim in?” Ryan asked.
“I’m sorry, he’s actually on a sales call. Can I pass along a message?” she asked politely, in her receptionist tone. She used to be more familiar with him when he called, but over time she had become more professional. He wasn’t sure where this came from exactly, but he supposed he should be pleased that he had been able to maintain some degree of detachment from the Scranton office.
“Yeah, actually. Can you tell him to check his calendar for next week? I’d like to spend Thursday and Friday with him in a management training.”
“What’s the training for? Is it mandatory?” Pam asked, with some hesitation in her voice.
“The dates are pretty firm, and we really need him there. I don’t want to give too many details right now. He just needs to be there, per Corporate,” Ryan told her tersely, not wanting to give away his own hesitation at telling her more about the training.
“Oh. I was just hoping it was flexible because that will sort of be our anniversary. And yours too, if you think about it,” Pam explained.
“How is it my anniversary?”
“When you got your job. It was the same day Jim and I went on our first date.”
“Oh. We should all go out to dinner,” Ryan said absently.
“Yeah, um, sure. I guess I could go with Jim to New York,” Pam said hesitantly, clearly not wanting to invite herself along before Jim even knew of the meeting.
Ryan hadn’t really thought she would take him up on the dinner offer. Now he wasn’t sure of a good way out, so he supposed they would all be celebrating their anniversaries together.
“I’m sure it will be fine,” Ryan said. “Can you pass along the message to Jim?”
“Sure. Hope to see you in New York. Take care, Ryan,” Pam said kindly.
“Thanks. Tell Jim I’ll give him more details once he gets here. He doesn’t need to prepare anything, he just needs to be at the office by 9.”
Ryan hung up, and stared at the phone. Ryan knew that Jim was not going to be happy when he arrived in New York and found out why he was being put through a management training seminar.
The truth was that Ryan had been given the task to help groom Jim to replace Michael Scott. Ryan couldn’t help but feel it was a bit ironic that just under a year ago he and Jim had been discussing eventually leaving Dunder-Mifflin, and now Ryan was being tasked in helping make this Jim’s true career path.
And Michael nor Jim had any idea at this point, and Corporate wanted the change to happen sooner rather than later. Ryan had to admit, there were a lot of times that this job sucked just as badly as it did in Scranton.
Author's Chapter Notes:
I decided that I had not had enough of Jim and Ryan, and their dealings with each other. This takes place a year after the previous chapter ended. This is basically the prologue to the three to four chapters which go in a completely new direction. I love feedback, as it drives me to continue on! (Or not.)
Chapter End Notes:
I still own no part of The Office. Bummer. I also intend no copyright infringement.
