She was trying not to get her hopes up, but every time the door to the community center's lobby opened, she instinctively looked over to see if Jim had walked in. That happened 23 times already -- she was keeping track.
The lobby started to get a bit crowded around 6:15 when she looked up to see Phyllis and Bob Vance walking in. Phyllis saw her, waved, and began heading over, dragging Bob by the hand behind her.
"You look so nice tonight," she said, giving Pam a hug. Pam felt a little better about her jeans, low-cut shirt, and black high heels after that reaction, which was good considering she took a half hour to pick them out.
"I didn't expect you to be here," Pam said, hugging Phyllis in return.
"Oh, well Jim sent me an email today about your show, and I figured since I missed the last one, I should come," she said. Phyllis looked up at the wall behind Pam where her work was hung. "These look wonderful!" she said, stepping closer for a better view.
Pam's hands began to sweat in the pockets of her jeans. "Thanks," she said quietly.
"I love this one with the fire in it. It's very symbolic," Phyllis said, a bit of a gleam in her eye.
Pam smiled back. "That's actually one of my favorites." The nervousness began to disappear as she started to describe her pieces to Phyllis and Bob before they went to look at the other artists' works.
Oscar showed up with his boyfriend, explaining that Jim had told him about the show earlier in the day. He told her he was much more impressed with her work this time around and Pam could tell he meant it. Kelly came in a few minutes later dressed in all black and only had time to say a quick hello before going over to talk to a guy who had drawn a bunch of charcoals inspired by Dante's Inferno.
It was during a brief conversation with Stanley and his wife that she finally saw him walk in. Jim was wearing a black sports jacket with a white button-down shirt underneath, jeans, and his work shoes. He looked casual and adorable, and Pam had to do everything in her power to look at Stanley's wife as she described an abstract piece she had done after her break-up with Roy.
Luckily, the couple left quickly and Pam stood by the wall, watching Jim get a drink from the make-shift bar in the corner before turning around and smiling at her. As he walked over, she noticed the top two buttons of his shirt were undone, showing off much more skin than she usually saw from him at work. She made a note to tell him later that she liked it.
"Hi," he said, wrapping his arms around her in a casual hug that she wished was much more than that.
"Hey, you made it! I was getting a bit worried Dwight would get her before you."
He pulled away and smiled down at her. "I slashed his tires on the way over here, so it may be a bit of a wait."
"Nice."
"Um, really though, I kind of changed outfits a few times before I finally settled on this one," he said, blushing a bit as he looked down at his feet.
"Oh."
"Yeah, like seven or eight or something."
She leaned in close to him and lowered her voice a little. "Why do you think I left work a half hour early?" she said, giving him a mischievous smile.
"Pamelama!" she heard from across the room, noticing several heads swiveling in the same direction as hers towards the loud voice.
"Michael, I didn't know you were coming."
Michael threw his arm around Jim's shoulder. "Well, when my numbero two-o told me about the show, I had to come. After all, I bought a piece from your last one. Art is an investment, you know."
"I guess so," Pam muttered.
She watched Jim give her a silent 'Yikes' before backing away quietly as Michael grilled her on her pictures. "Is that the coal walk stuff? Man, you were so much better at that than Ryan."
She kept her eye on Jim for the rest of the show. He hadn't come back to look at her stuff up close, but whenever she found him in the crowd, she noticed him looking at it -- or her -- from across the room. By the time eight o'clock rolled around, she received some final congratulations from her boss and began to take her stuff down from the wall.
She felt his hand on the small of her back and had a quick flash of their office, the desk, his lips on hers. She closed her eyes slightly and felt herself get a little dizzy.
"What?" she asked, snapping back to reality. She knew he had said something to her, but didn't remember what.
"I asked how you got some of these hung this high."
"Oh," she said. "I had to steal a chair from the conference room down the hall."
"I see," he replied, reaching up and easily pulling the tacks from her fire walk piece, the reds and oranges standing out even more against the black of his jacket. "I think this was my favorite of yours tonight."
She looked up at him. "Really?" she asked, a bit shocked he would pick that one considering the subject matter.
"Yeah, the colors just remind me of you. Well, the new you, I guess," he said, his voice trailing off a bit at the end.
"And you like the new me?" she asked apprehensively.
He looked down at her and smiled. "Yeah, but I liked the old you, too."
She could feel her face getting warm and quickly got back to working on the tacks in the wall. But as she picked her pieces up from the floor to get them to her car, a few slid back off the top of the pile and landed near Jim's feet.
"Hold on there, Beesly," he said, reaching for the ones that fell before grabbing for the rest of them from her arms. "Let me take these for you."
"Thanks," she said quietly as she walked towards the door, holding it open so he could follow her out.
He followed her to her car and gently slid the pieces into the back without damaging any of them. "How's that?"
"Perfect."
"Watch your fingers!" Jim said, grabbing the hatchback and pulling it shut for her. "So after trying on my fifth outfit tonight, I realized I forgot to get your new address."
Pam was starting to get nervous about the whole date thing again and quickly looked down at her feet. "Um...well, if you want I can just meet you somewhere or something."
"I know I was late, which may lose me a few points, but I'm pretty sure I decided I would follow you home and then drive us to dinner." Jim's mocking tone was back and Pam was trying very hard to not tell him how adorable it was.
"You really don't quit, do you?"
He laughed a bit. "I guess I'm making up for lost time."
"Alright, I'll wait for you to follow me out, but no tailgating!" Pam yelled out as he started walking toward his car.
"Thanks, Officer Pam!" he yelled back.
As she got in the car, her hands were shaking so bad it took her four times to get the key in the ignition.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Life and Harry Potter got in the way. Sorry about that. Thanks to xoxoxo again for the beta!
