Roy grabbed a beer and headed back into the living room, and to Pam who was sitting curled up on the couch.
'you sure you don't want anything?' he asked.
'just about 12 hrs of uninterrupted sleep. Never doubt the importance of a good night's sleep, I always say.' she responded.
Pam was feeling a little awkward now that she was back at her apartment with Roy. She had been so anxious to leave the reception, and thankful to have a friend to lean on, she hadn't stopped to think about it being weird being alone with Roy after all this time.
He stood in the doorway, looking at her.
'Some night, huh?' he said
'Yeah...you could say that.'
'You know, tonight...spending time with you. It's been nice.' Roy said, smiling. He walked over to the couch, and sat next to her, his eyes never leaving her face. She felt like she was venturing into familiar territory and she wasn't sure if she was comfortable with that.
'I really needed a friend tonight, Roy. Thanks.'
'I've just been doing a lot of thinking, you know?' he paused. 'Ever since...you left me.' he looked over at her, and she could see a storm of emotions written all over his face.
'Roy...'
'No, wait listen to me. I know I was an asshole. I know I should have paid more attention to you. But...things weren't always bad, were they?'
'No, they weren't. But things were bad for a long time.' Pam reached out and touched his arm. 'You know it's better this way.'
'No,' he said, grabbing her hand. 'I don't know that. I miss you. I...'
She pulled away, and stood up. God, why couldn't things be easy? Roy was a good man. Yes, he had flaws, but he was a decent man who obviously cared about her. Why was she so reluctant to give it another try?
'I really think I need to get to bed.' she muttered, looking anywhere but at him. He was quiet for a moment, and then stood. 'Okay.' he said doing his best to keep the disappointment out of his voice. She followed him to the door, and he turned towards her. He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.
'I guess i'll see you at work, huh?' he said.
'Yeah.' She felt horrible for hurting him. But she couldn't go back to that life. Even if Jim was out of the picture.
***
'Just...just don't ok?' Karen whispered as she pulled her hand from his, and turned away.
Jim stood and watched as she made her way back inside the building, and headed straight for the bar. He hadn't had time to think of the right words, but she had known what was coming when she looked in his eyes. She said she had been a fool to expect anything less. In her heart she had known he was still hung up on Pam. But she wanted to believe him all the times he tried to convince her otherwise.
He ran his hand through his hair, and headed for his car. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Michael sitting on a bench on the side of the building, softly humming to himself.
'Still not allowed back in?' Jim asked, making his was over towards his boss.
Michael looked up, and broke into an embarrassed grin.
'What? Oh that? No, slight misunderstanding. I'm just taking a breather. It was getting kind of crazy in there.'
Jim sat down next to him, and muttered 'Indeed it was.'
'So,' Michael said, rubbing his hands together and looking over at his bench-mate.
'what about you? Why are you out here, and not off shaking it with our lovely Miss Karen?' Jim didn't respond, so Michael pressed on. 'Aw, did you two have a little lovers spat?' He grinned in his familiar oblivious way.
'Not exactly.' Jim said.
Michael looked over, and finally Jim said 'Karen and I broke up.'
'Oh man,' Michael said, leaning back and closing his eyes. 'I'm sorry. I know how hard this is. I've been in your shoes my friend, and it's not fun. Not fun at all.' He shifted towards him, and placed his hand on Jim's shoulder. 'Listen, it's gonna be ok. It's never easy when the woman you think is going to bare your children decides you're just not good enough...'
'Actually,' Jim broke in before Michael could continue. 'I broke it off.'
Michael was silent for a moment. 'Wow...didn't see that coming.'
Jim smiled despite himself.
'Well, I guess you had your reasons. Sometimes moving on is for the best.'
'See, that's the thing.' Jim responded. 'I can't move on.' He looked over at his boss, and smiled weakly.
'What? You mean Pam?'
Jim raised his eyebrows, and looked down at his feet.
The two sat in silence, listening to the music drifting from the windows behind them.
***
'Oh my God, turtles!' she heard herself yell out as she sat up on the couch. She had been dreaming. Something to do with her being on the Conan O Brien show along with the bobble-head version of Dwight. She couldn't remember where the turtles part came in. That's what she gets for eating a whole pint of ice cream and falling asleep with the tv on.
She was still feeling disoriented when she heard the knock on the front door. Oh God, she thought, it was probably Roy. She was definitely not in the mood for another emotionally awkward scene with him right now. Maybe she should just ignore it and go to bed. She didn't think the building was on fire...the knocking didn't sound frantic. There were no alarms going off. Good grief her head was so cloudy. She needed to crawl into bed and forget that this day had ever happened. But she found herself moving towards the door, when the second knock came.
Pushing the hair from her face, she opened the door. And found herself looking up into the eyes of the last person she had expected to see.
***
Author's Chapter Notes:
******
Chapter End Notes:
Originally, i was going to make the conversation between Jim and Michael a lot longer, but i finally decided to leave it as it first came to me.
Chapter titles via Charlie Sexton lyrics :)
Chapter titles via Charlie Sexton lyrics :)
