He approached her desk with a look that she had seen in his eyes a thousand times before. Though somehow, this time, she knew that it was going to be more trouble than usual for her.

“Any messages?” he asked quietly, in almost a whisper, as his hands curled into casual fists on top of the desk behind the little plaque that read, “Reception”.

She shook her head before she quietly, under her breath said, “Nope.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, cocking his head to the side slightly.

She shook her head again in response, not willing to pull herself away from her work today. In the past, the question “Any messages?” stood code for a variety of different schemes and ploys to do something they weren’t necessarily supposed to do. A year ago it had meant, “Here’s Andy’s cell phone, we’re really going to fuck with him on this one.” Last month, the phrase had meant, “Meet me in the supply closet in the next ten minutes” since somehow she had been the one to keep the condoms in her desk, and whenever they were feeling rather charged – or just bored – she would place one behind that little “Reception” sign and call him up to her desk.

Today though, today she could tell that something different was going to happen. He shrugged and uncurled his fists, and a small gold key dropped out of the right. Her eyes widened as she looked at the key, laying motionless on its worn Looney Tunes keychain. There was no mistaking that it was the key to his apartment. She had seen it dozens of times hanging from a hook next to his refrigerator.

Her mouth dropped open – she was completely speechless. She had seen this gesture on several different occasions; all taking place within the same office space they were currently in, actually. Her mind immediately flashed to the footage a member of the film crew had shown her right after Valentine’s Day of Dwight giving Angela a key to his house. She then quickly remembered the time she had walked into the break room and seen Kelly with tears streaming down her cheeks and a key on a feathery pink keychain dejectedly lying on the table between her and Ryan. She could even remember a time that she swore she saw the exchange going on between Jim and Karen – though what he had given her at the time could have been nothing more than something that he had picked up at the gas station on his way to work that morning.

She looked up at him with a look of slight confusion written on her face. She wasn’t really sure what to say. Wasn’t it too soon? Her gaze met his anxious and hopeful expression and she smiled; though she couldn’t help but to think that it was completely fake. Instinctually, she quickly looked around her for cameras or Michael. There was a camera over near Dwight and Michael was standing in his doorway, watching the people in accounting. She immediately deduced that it was too dangerous to say anything on the matter; so she inconspicuously reached up between his hands and took the key on its ridiculous keychain into her own hand and dropped it into the open purse next to her foot. He seemed satisfied with her response and beamed widely at her before turning around and returning to his desk again.

She ducked her head down and changed her expression – hoping that he couldn’t see. She didn’t know if she was ready for this move. With Roy, she had dated him for something like three or four years before they ever considered moving in together – not three or four months. In addition to that, when she did move in with Roy, things had…changed. The first month living with Roy, they had sex all the time. However, after the first two months passed and sleeping together nightly had become commonplace, the sex became infrequent and rather boring. Sure, there were the moments every couple of months where Roy would approach her from behind while she was doing the dishes or cooking dinner then fuck her until she came – or in one instance, until she knocked the pot of spaghetti sauce off of the stove – but for the most part, living with him had been boring and there were many times she wished she had never even done it. Things would have been a lot easier in a lot of respects if she hadn’t.

She looked over at Jim, happily sitting at his computer and typing something. She watched his hands as his fingers worked quickly. She didn’t want a boring – or worse, nonexistent – sex life with him. She loved the nights that he came over to her apartment and let her lay between his legs as they sat on the sofa and watched a movie. He would wrap his arms around her waist, and by the middle – and always the end – of the movie he would have a hand beneath her underwear, stroking her clit until she was helplessly writhing in his lap and begging him to move into a position where they could comfortably have sex. Unfortunately…that was usually about the time that he made an excuse about having to leave…

She shook her head and turned her gaze down towards the floor and stared at the gold key lying on top of her wallet. Maybe he didn’t even want her to move in with him. Maybe he was just giving her the key for the convenience of her having a key to his apartment. Though…already as it was, he picked her up nearly every morning before work…

She just didn’t know. There was a lot more that she needed to discuss with Jim that couldn’t be discussed at work. What was she going to do with her apartment? She had just gotten everything the way that she liked it. She loved where she lived – not that she didn’t like his place – but as much as she loved Jim, she wasn’t sure if she was ready to share a living space just yet.

“So?” he asked, drumming his fingers against the top of her desk.

She looked up at him with a sympathetic look in her eyes and smiled weakly.

“I don’t know Jim…” she said softly. She couldn’t bear the hurt look in his eyes that immediately followed her quiet statement. “I just…I have class tomorrow evening and I have a few things at my place that I need to finish up before then. I know I’m not going to have enough time tomorrow to work on it here…”

He nodded, “No, okay. No, that’s fine.” He visibly swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded firmly.

“But hey,” she said, “If you wait just a second, I’m almost done here. We can walk out together.”

He nodded and she could see him trying to swallow his hurt feelings.

“And hey,” she said, smiling earnestly and reaching down into her purse. She lifted the key and dangled it from its keychain in front of her. “If I’m finished with everything before midnight, I always have this.”