Worming her way through people, she yelled, “Hey, Ryan!”

  He turned around, shading his eyes to see who was calling him. When he saw her, his face lit up. “Hey,” he said, his eyes raking over her body and settling on her chest. What an ass! She thought.

  Irritated by how he was staring at her breasts, Pam snapped, “Where’s Niki?”

  “Niki?” he asked casually. “She split.”

  “What do you mean, she split?” Pam asked, cocking her head to the side, her forehead furrowing in anger.

  “I mean, she’s not with me anymore. She decided to move on. She split.” He casually took a big gulp of his soda.

  “What happened?” Pam demanded.

  “Nothing, she got tired of me I guess. Last I saw, she was over at the beach chatting up some other guys.”

  Pam gaped at him. Was he kidding? she wondered. But then she knew Michelle pretty well. It could be true. She started craning to look over at the beach area for her friend. Swinging back around, she saw that Jim wasn’t back at the picnic tables yet.

  Ryan grabbed her hand. “Hey listen, do you want to sit over on the beach with me? I’ve got some rum to go with this Coke in my cooler,” he said, his voice sounded slick.

  Recoiling from his touch, Pam snatched her hand away. “No thanks,” she said and headed off towards the beach area.

  Looking at her watch, Pam saw it was 3:25. Damn! She thought. Her mom was coming for them at four. What would she do if she couldn’t find Michelle by then?

   Feeling frantic, but trying to stay calm, she worked her way through the multitude of towels laid out across the beach hoping to find her friend.

  Casting a nervous glance back at the picnic area, she could no longer see the table she was sitting at. She hoped Jim wasn’t there waiting for her. But if she didn’t keep looking, she might not find Michelle before her Mom came to pick them up. Not really sure of what to do, she kept walking along the beach.

  And then suddenly, there was Michelle. She was sitting on a blanket with three other people, wearing a large Scranton High School Football t-shirt over her bathing suit top, and drinking out of a red plastic cup. The t-shirt hung on her small frame. It obviously belonged to one of the guys she was sitting with.“Hey Niki,” Pam said as she looked down at her friend.

  “Hey Pam!” Michelle said shading her eyes too look up at her. “Where have you been?” she asked in a sing-song voice, jumping up to give Pam a hug.

  “Oh yeah, and I did away with all the Niki and Lauren stuff. It got boring, and I kept forgetting my own stupid name,” Michelle whispered loudly in her ear as she swayed unsteadily on her feet.

  “Everyone!” Michelle began, addressing the group. “This is my friend Pam!”

  She put her arm around Pam’s shoulder. “Pam, this is everyone!” Then, she burst into giggles, and sat back down next to a shirtless boy.

  Obviously, the fight they had earlier was forgotten in her haze of booze, Pam thought as she watched her friend grinning at her. One less thing to worry about…

  Another boy, big, and tall stood up. He was wearing a Scranton High School football jersey. “Hey Pam” he said, his voice low and pleasant. He was blond, built and good looking. He smiled at her with perfect white teeth.

   “I’m Roy.”

  Then he motioned to the rest of the group. “This guy here is Joe. And that loser over there is Mike. The lovely lady next to him is his girlfriend Rachel.”

  The group managed an unenthusiastic hello, and continued on with their conversations. Roy turned to face her.

  “So, Michelle tells me you’re starting Scranton High this fall?”

  Pam nodded.

  “Cool,” Roy said. “It’s a fun school, you’ll love it. I’m a junior this year. Hey, you want a drink?”

  Pam shook her head no, and looked nervously back towards the picnic area.

  “So Pam, Joe here is having a keg party tomorrow night. His parents are on vacation in the Bahamas. Michelle said the two of you might want to come. I hope you do because we need some beautiful women there.”

  She turned to face Roy, prepared to dismiss him like she did Ryan’s leering advances earlier. But when she met his eyes, they looked soft and vulnerable. He seemed unsure and nervous. She noticed the muscle in his jaw was twitching. He actually had his hands stuffed in his pockets! Despite herself, Pam smiled up at him.

  Then suddenly she remembered. Jim!

  Looking at her watch, she saw it was 3:48. Glancing once again at Roy, she stammered out an apology. “Sorry, my mom’s coming to pick us up at four, and I have to meet up with someone before we go. Thanks for the party invite.”

  And with that, she grabbed Michelle’s hand and pulled her up to leave. Michelle tried to protest, but was in no condition to argue. Instead she waved goodbye to the group. “Bye guys! See you tomorrow night!”

  Pam dragged her back towards the picnic area. Her eyes scanned the tables looking for Jim. She looked over her shoulder at Michelle.

  “How did you end up with those guys?” she asked her as they weaved through the crowd.

  “That guy Ryan is an asshole!” Michelle said. A few people turned to look at them at Michelle’s outburst. Pam just kept them walking.

  “What happened?” She asked her.

  “After you were so mean to me, he kept trying to pull me away from the picnic so he could grope me. And I got to thinking-- maybe this guy does think I’m a slut? So, I told him to fuck off!” Michelle grinned.

  “I went looking for you and Joe asked me to sit with him and his friends and have a little drink. So, I did! Aren’t they hot? And, it looks like Roy likes you! I don’t think he’s as cute as Joe, but did you get a look at his muscles?”

  Michelle was almost running now to keep up with Pam’s pace. “He wasn’t talking to any other girls until you came by!” she said in a lilting voice.

  “That’s nice,” Pam said absently. Then she spotted Jim sitting at the now empty picnic table. He was holding her stuffed pig. Shit! She must have dropped it when she took off to catch Ryan.

  “Looks like you found her,” Jim said looking up at her. He looked hurt. Pam felt a little knife twist in her chest.

  “I’m so sorry, Jim,” Pam began, and then motioned towards Michelle. “Ignore her, she’s drunk.”

  “Yeah!” Michelle yelled, pointing her finger at Jim. “And your friend Ryan is an asshole!”

  “They’re not friends,” Pam countered, but Michelle wasn’t listening.

  “I waited for you. Really I did, but then Ryan walked by and I ran to catch up to him. He told me that Michelle was on the beach. I thought I could find her and get back before you. I’m sorry you had to wait.”

  “S’ok,” Jim said, and stood up. “Well, now that you’ve found your friend, I’ll just be going.”

  “Bye!” Michelle waved rudely.

  Jim left the pig on the table and started walking away, but Pam caught up to him.

  Jim looked down at her, and saw the hurt in her eyes. Maybe I’m reading this wrong, he thought. Maybe she’s not blowing me off. Is that possible? His lips curved into a slow smile. His heart light, he reached out to link her fingers with his.

  Pam responded with a wide grin. Her heart was pounding in her chest. It was as it was before. His hand big and smooth closed over hers making her skin tingle and her pulse race. She held her breath.

  “So Lauren, I was wondering what are you doing tom…?”

  “Hey,” Roy interrupted them. “Sorry man,” he said looking dismissively at Jim.

  Jim dropped Pam’s hand before she could grasp for him.

  Roy turned towards Pam and handed her a crumpled up piece of paper. “I almost forgot to give you the address to the party tomorrow. My phone number is in there too. Call me,” he said, leaning in intimately towards Pam.

  Pam, flustered in how to handle this situation, looked over helplessly at Jim.

  Jim looked down and took a step away from her. Well, he thought. I guess I am getting the brush off. His inner voice taunted him. She was out of your league anyway, Halpert.

  Michelle butted in. “We’ll be there, Roy!”

  Jim wordlessly gave Pam a little half-wave, stuffed his hands into his pockets, turned, and walked back towards the beach. Panicked, Pam reached out to grab for Jim as he was walking away.

   “Jim”

  He turned to face her, his lips set in an angry line.

  “Don’t. Just don’t Lauren. I get it,” he said his voice low and gritty as he looked down at the ground.

 “Please Jim, this really isn’t what it seems, I swear.”

  Jim looked up at her, his expression grim. “No, it’s fine really. We just met, right?”

  “No, it’s not fine! It’s not-- it’s not like that, ok?” Pam said a little too loudly.

   “-- I guess I just misinterpreted things today.”

  “No, you didn’t misinterpret anything,” she said shaking her head forcefully.

   His eyes looked pained. His expression held doubt.

  “Well could you please explain it to me then? I’m a little confused as to what exactly is going on here. I feel like an idiot.” he said quietly.

  “No, no! You’re not an idiot. It’s me, it’s just—it’s me, ok?”

  “Lauren, I really need you to tell me what is going on here,” he said, his eyes holding her gaze.

  She began, “I’m sorry Jim—

  Just then, Michelle grabbed her hand. “Your Mom’s here! Let’s go.”

  Jim stared at her, waiting for her to continue, but after an uncomfortable amount of time she didn’t. So, he blew out his breath, gathered up his pride, and said, “Goodbye Lauren”.

  She watched him walk away.

  Go after him! her thoughts screamed.

  But her feet remained stubbornly rooted to the spot.

  Along the way, she spotted her pink pig sitting all alone on the picnic table where Jim had left it. Reaching her hand out, she snatched it as they walked by.

  Turning back, she scanned the beach for one last look at him, but she couldn’t find him in the crowd. So, she reluctantly made her way out.

  Pam’s mom was all smiles as the girls jumped into the back seat. Michelle smacked her gum loudly.

  “So girls, how was the picnic?” Mom asked eagerly.

  “It was awesome, Mrs. Beesley! Pam and I even met some cute boys-- football players from Scranton High School!” Michelle gushed.

  “Really?” Mrs. Beesley asked, looking in the rear view mirror at her daughter. “Were they nice boys, Pam?”

  “Yes Mom, they were.” Pam said. And while Michelle continued to ramble on, Pam turned to look out the window. Pink stuffed pig on her lap, she absently ran her fingers over the hand where Jim had touched her, as the lake slowly faded from view.