Her new apartment is empty and bland. She doesn’t have the energy to paint it, or go out and buy fancy new furniture, so she settles on something easier. On a sunny Friday after work, she goes to a local electronics store and absolutely murders the previous four paychecks she’d been hoarding. She buys a laptop (sometimes, it’s just too hard to get out of bed on a dreary Saturday), a digital camera and a few lenses (she’d been meaning to expand her artistic styles), a few "necessary" items to let her online wirelessly (again with the dreary weekends), and a Nintendo DS (how can anyone pass up those games?). A little shameless flirting and all of the above is hers for less than $3,500.

The salesman was cute, too, so that helped.

She hums to herself while her computer sets itself up. She’s really good at her little video game, especially the Su Doku cartridge (are they called cartridges anymore?).

For the next week, she plays her games during lunch and munches on various assortments of Chex Mix. Real food when I get home, she decides.

When Jim comes back from Stamford – and shoots her down – she hides at her desk during lunch. All the confidence she’d gained in recent months seemed to fade away as easily as hesitation had come in his answer. She wraps herself in her game, playing with virtual little pets. It never takes long for her to tire of this game, though, and soon, she’s playing the classically updated Super Mario Bros. game.

Tuesday is her least favorite day of the week. However, two weeks after Jim comes back into town (a lovely, cool Tuesday), she wakes up feeling absolutely fantastic. She digs out the pink sweater, black slacks, and her "little" boots, as Kelly had called them. She does her hair and make-up perfectly. Her hands don’t shake, her stomach doesn’t churn.

Hell, she’s not even really thinking. It hurts to think, so she decides not to.

Today, her confidence-calendar advises, befriend someone new, so she sits with Oscar, Kevin, and Phyllis at lunch. It was either that, or Jim, Karen, Kelly and Ryan.

Phyllis greets her with the warmest smile, Oscar smiles and scoots a chair back for her, Kevin creeps her out a little.

Jim gives her a questioning look. She shrugs, smiles, and takes a bite of her reheated chicken parmesan (she really likes to cook this particular dish).These guys aren’t so bad, she thinks. Conversation is effortless and fun. Sure, somewhat perverted and a little reminiscent of her junior year around Roy’s friends (never hers, "like you had any,"), but she likes the light-heartedness of it all.

Phyllis has a surprisingly dirty mind, as does Oscar. Kevin…Everyone already knew about Kevin. The first week or so, they sort of await her approval before making a crude joke or gesture (yes, those, too); she always gives the okay.

The first time she mumbles, "That’s what she said," from behind her desk, Phyllis giggles, Oscars’ eyes go wide, and Kevin, also wide-eyed, whispers, "Niiice" as he steals a jelly bean from her desk later.

She sees the wheels turning in Jim’s head, wondering what on earth these three know that he doesn’t. She’s glad he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know anything, keep it that way.

She always imagined Phyllis as the motherly type, but thinks now, maybe she’s more like an older sister. Phyllis talks of Bob Vance (who also has a rather dirty mind); Pam talks of her art classes.

Phyllis tells Jim, but only in bits and pieces. She never mentions Pam’s second art show.