Pam was almost asleep when she heard a tap at her bedroom window. Petrified, she instinctively pulled her sheet close to her body.

“Who-who is it?” she stammered, looking frantically around her room trying to get her bearings. The room was pitch dark. The only light was coming from the window.

   It was a warm night. Her window had been purposely left open. Pam loved these early fall evenings.

  But right now she felt like a naïve fool.

  This was exactly the type of story one would expect to see on the Nightly News. “Woman found slain in her apartment. Killer entered through an open window. News at Eleven.”

  Pam was afraid to breathe, even though she knew that whoever had tapped on her window could see her just fine, breathing or not. She felt if she just stayed really still, maybe everything would be ok.

  Then she heard a familiar voice cut through the silence.

  “Pam? Don’t be frightened. It’s me.”

  “Jim?” Pam squeaked out.

  “Yeah, it’s me. Can I come in?”

  Pam let out her breath in a huff. “Um – yeah I guess.”

  “Can you meet me at the front door? I need to see you.”

  “Um—ok. Ok. I’ll be there in a sec.”

   Pam was wearing a tank top and underwear, her standard bed attire. Snatching a pair of sweat pant shorts off her floor, she pulled them on and quickly padded out towards her front door.

  Looking through her peep hole, she could see Jim on her stoop. He had his hands stuffed in his jacket pockets. He looked agitated and stressed. Wanting to soothe, she quickly opened the door.

  Their eyes met and held.

  “Jim, is everything ok?”

  “Yes, it is,” he said, as his eyes raked slowly over her scantily clad body.

  Pam sucked in her breath at the force of his gaze. Her nipples instinctively tightened, poking up against the thin white fabric of her cotton tank top. Annoyed with her reaction to him, she crossed her arms across her chest.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Can I come in?” he said slowly.

  Pam looked at him impatiently. “Yes, yes, come in. What’s going on Jim?”

  “I needed to see you,” he said as he walked into her living room and sat down on her couch.

  “For what?” Pam asked wearily, as she sat down next to him. Frankly, their whole situation exhausted her.

  Jim was with Karen. She was back with Roy.

  Fuck, how did they all get here?

  “I just—I dunno. I think things have been weird between us since Phyllis’s wedding.”

  Pam took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes.

 “Yeah, I guess,” she said absently. What did it matter?

  Jim waited until she met his gaze again.

  “Really, I guess things have been weird since that bat was loose in the office.”

   Pam looked over at him quizzically, interrupted sleep clouding her normally reserved emotions.

  “Huh?” she asked her voice in a fog.

  “It bit me you know,” Jim said matter-of-factly.

  Pam hesitated, trying to grasp the direction of the conversation.

  “The bat bit you?”

  “Yeah”

  Pam searched his face for some sign of joking. None of this conversation was making any sense to her. They had been prank-partners for so long that she felt she would know it if he was playing some elaborate joke on her. But, even in her groggy state, she knew that he would never go to this length to play a prank on her. It just wasn’t his style.

  She decided to see where all this was going.

 “Where did it bite you?”

  He leaned in closer to her and tilted his head exposing his neck. Pam couldn’t see any marks at all. She was beginning to get annoyed.

  “Jim, there is nothing on your neck,” she said dismissively.

  Jim turned his head back to look at her, putting his face just inches from hers. Pam sucked in her breath at the intimacy of their sudden closeness. Uncomfortable, she looked away from him.

  “Weird. The marks were there before, I swear. Can you look again?”

  She looked back at him and felt the weight of his stare. A lump rose up in her throat, making it difficult to speak. Instead, she nodded her head and then managed to squeak out, “Where?”

  Jim smiled and pointed again, “Here.”

  Tentatively, Pam reached out with her fingers to feel the skin of his neck. His skin felt warm.

  Jim groaned at her light touch.

  Pam felt her body tighten and shiver at his response. It was a reaction to him that she was used to ignoring, so she took a deep breath, stamped down her feelings and continued on.

  “Well, a bat bit you on the neck. I guess that makes you a vampire now, huh?” Pam asked hesitantly, still not sure if they were joking around or not.

    “Yeah, I guess it does.”

  Pam started to laugh, but her laughter quickly died out at the force of his stare.

  “Jim, what are you really doing? This isn’t funny. It’s late, I was almost asleep in my--”

  “Shh,” he hissed quietly, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

   He tilted his head and leaned in closer. His lips were so close to hers that she could feel his warm breath feather across her cheek. It pulled a sigh from her which made him smirk.

  He waited a beat, and then began. “It’s simple really. I decided that if I had been bit by that bat today and was now going to be a vampire for all eternity I need you to be with me.” 

  Pam felt her heart lurch in her chest. The whole thing was ridiculously silly, but she felt such pure joy at his words.

   “Ok, ha ha Jim. Why are you doing this?”

  “No, I’m serious. I know it seems stupid.” He chuckled, “Ok, it doesn’t just seem stupid, it is stupid—“

  “But still, after all this time, and all of our— well, you know, I finally realized that everything boils down to just one question doesn’t it?”

  She held her breath and waited, not really believing her own ears.

  “If you had to choose today, right now, who you would spend eternity with, who would it be?”

  Pam’s emotional defense mechanism tried to kick-in, and she began to shake her head “no”. She was so used to denying her feelings for him that it was almost automatic at this point. The weight of the whole damn situation was heavy on her soul, and she was tired.   

  But instead, miraculously, she felt her lips begin to curve into a smile and she shyly met his gaze. It felt like a weight was being lifted off her that she wasn’t even aware she was carrying. 

  The moment lingered on, and her smile just grew and grew. Jim’s eyes lit up at her response and he returned it with his own goofy grin.

  They sat there grinning like idiots until he finally said, “Well, what’s your answer Beesley?”

  Pam cocked her head at him and then gently pushed his head to the side, “Let me see your neck again.”

  Leaning in for a closer inspection, she could see dark stubble starting to come in. His skin felt hot now, and he smelled clean, like soap. Lime and spice, and just Jim.

  God! He smelled so damn good that it made her stomach quiver.

  “So,” Pam began, whispering hoarsely against his neck, “If you really are a vampire, I guess I’m at your mercy because I let you in my apartment, right? I believe that is basic Vampire 101.”

  “Um-hmm,” he managed. “And right now I need an answer, or I might just have to bite you on the neck.”

  Pam giggled, feeling bold, “Promises, promises.”

  She began placing slow, gentle kisses along his neckline, across the bottom of his jaw and finally making her way up to his waiting lips.

  “I choose you, for all eternity.”

  *******************************************************************

  Pam woke up with a start. Disoriented, she looked around her bedroom. Her curtain danced in the breeze blowing through her window. Her digital clock shone bright in the darkness, 3:00am.

  “Damn it!” she mumbled as she made her way towards the window and pushed it down shut.

  This was becoming a habit.

  She lay back down on her bed and sighed. The whole stupid thing was just so frustrating!

  She snuggled down deep into her pillow, finding her comfort zone.

  All of this pent-up emotion, so much so, that it’s leaking over into her dreams now? Even her subconscious was sick of her bullshit and was trying to show her the way.

  Pathetic!

  But something inside of her was changing. She could feel it, like a storm approaching. She didn’t know how or when, but she knew she was ready to start making changes in her life. Maybe those changes would involve Jim, maybe not. Either way, the storm was coming, and she welcomed it.

  Visions of Jim and her erotic dream flashed through her mind as her eyelids grew heavy.  

Pam smiled to herself, and on that thought, drifted off to sleep.

The End J