Pam sighed deeply as she examined her well-scrubbed, makeup-less face in the mirror. It wasn’t like she had anyone to impress, but that didn’t stop her from feeling a nagging sadness about the darkness around her eyes, the wrinkles around her mouth, and the way her neck was probably going to look like an accordion in ten years.
After unhooking her bra and errantly throwing it towards the hamper, she slid on her favorite pair of pajamas. They were buttercup colored with little white flowers on them, and were her fuzziest and most comfortable pair. She remembered that she had bought them when the teenage and early twenties frenzy of desire with Roy had cooled considerably, and it didn’t seem sensible to go to bed in a black negligee when she wasn’t going to be touched, or do any touching.
Pam absent-mindedly shut off the bathroom light, and scratched the rats-nest of her honey kissed auburn hair as she plodded into the bedroom. She thought momentarily about reading one of the many romance novels that were stacked around her bed, like monuments to her recent burgeoning desire and lust. But, she was too tired; both physically and mentally, to even try.
Instead, she slipped under the covers and looked up at the ceiling, willing herself to go to sleep. Hoping to somehow trick her mind out of making this another long night, the kind that left her restless and still shocked about how strong her feelings for him were.
After a couple of minutes of uncomfortable tossing and turning, Pam looked over at her alarm clock in frustration, saw it click from 11:59 to 12:00, and groaned into her pillow over the fact that she’d have to be up in seven hours to finish a miserable and lonely week at Dunder-Mifflin.
At that moment, however, she heard a sudden sound come from outside of her apartment, and from the street below. After a second or two, she realized it was music of some sort, and groaned again at the insensitivity of whoever was blasting it at midnight on a weekday.
“PAMELA BEESLY!”
Her eyes went wide and the blood ran hot in her veins at the sound of her name being yelled from the same direction as the music. In a second, she scampered over to her window, toppling two piles of books over in the process, and looked out her window.
There was Jim, standing outside on the sidewalk, with an iPod and speaker dock over his head, which was blasting the beginnings of some song.
“PAM! I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE!”
She gulped, and without thought opened her window. She leaned out of the window frame into the cool night, and watched as his face broke out into a smile at the sight of her.
“Jim! What are you doing? People are going to hear!” She said in a voice that he could hear, but hopefully wouldn’t wake up the entire apartment building.
“I DON’T CARE PAM! I LOVE YOU AND I KNOW I’M NO GOOD WITH WORDS, THAT’S WHY I BROUGHT THIS!” He yelled, and nodded towards the iPod and dock. As he did, the lyrics to the song kicked in.
“I can’t fight this feeling any longer.
And yet I’m still afraid to let it flow.
What started out as friendship, has grown stronger.
I only wish I had the strength to let it show.”
Pam looked down at him, not knowing exactly how to react. This was completely unexpected, and several questions flooded her mind simultaneously.
How was he here?
What was he doing?
Was he drunk?
Still, after a second of thought, she decided to ask the one that pressed upon her the most.
“You chose REO Speedwagon to do your talking?” She asked incredulously, trying to match her previous volume. However, as she leaned out of the window a little more, she noticed several apartment lights were now on, and one or two heads were joining her in viewing this spectacle. Her cheeks burned crimson.
“THE WAGON IS WISE, PAM. AND I’M NOT LEAVING UNTIL YOU COME DOWN HERE AND TELL ME YOU FEEL THE SAME WAY!” He paused for a second, in what Pam would have assumed was thought, but knew couldn’t be because there obviously was none in this act. “AND DANCE WITH ME!”
His smile became even wider, if that was possible, and she nervously looked again at the apartment building, and the heads of her neighbors that were now turned up, sideways, and down at her.
“Are you drunk?” She hissed, her voice lower now, hushed in embarrassment.
“ONLY WITH LOVE, PAM!” He yelled back, even louder then before.
She shook her head, and nervously bit her bottom lip “Okay, I’m coming down!”
With that, Pam closed the window, and ran quickly to the bathroom to put on her pink slippers. She knew she had to get downstairs as quickly as possible to figure out what in the hell was going on, and what was up with Jim. She took the steps two at a time, the adrenaline of opportunity, curiosity, and embarrassment fueling her movements.
After a half a minute, she burst out of the doors of her apartment building in her pajamas, nearly breathless, and ran towards Jim.
He stood looking at her, the iPod and speaker dock still way too loudly pumping out “Can’t Fight This Feeling.” She turned away from him to look back at her apartment building and the audience that now watched her every move, before she whipped back and addressed him.
“Jim! What are you doing?!”
He responded in a voice and quiet volume that made it seem as if his actions were completely normal. “I’m expressing my love for you Pam.”
“Wha-What are you even doing here? I thought you were on your big week-long sales call road trip thing until Saturday?”
He cocked his head a little at her questions, his eyebrows rising slightly. She knew that he knew what that face did to her, how it made a heat burn inside of her. “I got back a day earlier. You didn’t really think I was going to miss today did you?”
She stared down at the sidewalk a little bashfully, and then back up to him. “I-I don’t know, I mean….its work, you know?”
He nodded, but then looked past her at the apartment building. “SO DO YOU LOVE ME OR NOT? I HAVE TO KNOW, PAM!” He yelled, sinking down to his knees dramatically in front of her.
She shook her head and rolled her eyes a little. “Of course I love you, you idiot, now stand up and stop waking up people.”
“Well you could have just said ‘yes’ you know?”
She laughed for the first time, and crossed her arms determinedly. “Yeah, and you could have not celebrated our one year anniversary at 12:02 in the morning….with REO Speedwagon….and probably, calls to the police.”
He shrugged and gave her a crooked smile. “I couldn’t wait.” Then he looked past her again. “SHE SAID SHE LOVES ME EVERYBODY!”
“Will you stop that?!”
“Sorry.” He said, and extended his arms to her. “You know unless I get a dance….”
“Alright, but I get to choose the song and the volume.” She gave him a pointed look, and accompanied it with an eyebrow raise of her own.
“Fair enough.”
He handed her the speaker and iPod, and she immediately turned down the volume. After a couple seconds of scrolling she had it. “Sing” by Travis began to float through the night air between them, and she sat it down on the ground.
“Good choice.”
She just smiled, walked over to him, and rested her cheek and hands on his chest. She felt him sigh and reach around her with his long arms to pull her closer.
“God, I missed you Jim. And I love you so much….” She exhaled into him.
“Me too Pam. Happy Anniversary.”
“Happy Anniversary.”
