“Pam, I can’t do this.”

“Can’t do what?” Pam asked timidly, not really wanting to hear the answer.

“This…” He points to Pam, and to himself. “I gotta know something first.” He pauses, to collect his thoughts. He takes a deep breath, and opens his mouth to speak, but before he can get a word out, Pam interrupts him.

“Did you break up with Karen?” Pam rattles out.

“Yeah…I did.” He says slowly.

“Okay. Then I want to say something.” She stops for a second, almost halting her thought, but she remembers what she silently told herself in her room, just a few moments ago, and decides to continue. “I like you Jim. I don’t know what you want, but I know what I want.”

Their eyes meet as soon as she says his name. The sad look he had on his face has disappeared, but he’s not quite back to normal, and Pam can sense it.

“That’s pretty fortunate, Beesly, ‘cause I happen to like you too.” He says.

She could tell he wanted to say more, and she knew exactly what it was. She sensed some hesitation at the end of his sentence, so she decided to make it easier for him.

“Hey, we don’t need to have this talk right now, if you don’t want to. I mean, lets just have a good time together. Okay?”

“Yeah, sure.” He looked relieved.

“I’m not really hungry. Are you?” She asked.

“Not really. What do you want to do instead?”

“Want to play some games? I’d like to see what kind of mad skills they taught you up in Stamford.”

“Sure!”

Jim grinned, as he took a seat on her couch. A few moments later Pam came skipping back into the room with some games in her hand.

“Uno?” She asked.

“Bring it, Beesly. I’m so going to whoop your butt.”

--------------------

They played games for a few hours, snacked on food, and drank beers. For the most part, it was a pretty low key night, except, on several occasions, Pam caught Jim stealing glances at her.

“Hey, why do you keep looking at me?” She knew where she wanted this to go.

He turned visibly red, and snickered.

“Wow…I didn’t know you caught that. I guess I keep looking at you because I can’t believe I’m here. With you. Nothing in our way.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty weird, isn’t it? Actually, pretty cool, if you ask me.”

“Absolutely, it is.”

She had her hand laying flat on the coffee table between them, and he slowly reached out and slid his hand under hers. Their fingers intertwined, and Pam gave his hand a gentle squeeze. Their eyes met, and they exchanged a shy smile.. “Yeah, this is going to be good.” Pam thought to herself.

“I’d better get going.” He said, unwillingly breaking the moment.

“Yeah, it’s getting late.”

“Can I see you tomorrow? I’d like to go on a real date with you, not that this wasn’t a real date, but I’d like to take you out on one that involved dinner, and more than a kid’s card game. If you behave until then, I might even cook for you…”

“I’d like that.” She replied, with a huge grin on her face.

Jim got up, and Pam followed suit. She walked him to the door, where they exchanged a hug, and said a soft goodbye, before he headed out the door.

Pam shut the door, turned around, and leaned on the door.

“Oh. My. God. I think I’m in love.” She said out loud. She stood there for a while, before heading off to her bedroom to get ready for bed.

Jim got home, and walked into his apartment. He carelessly plopped his stuff down on his couch, while shedding his clothes, putting on boxers and a t-shirt, and climbing into bed. He thought sleep would come easily tonight, but after 2 hours of tossing and turning, he finally gave up, and walked to his kitchen to get a drink of water. He stood in the kitchen for a moment, before he heard a familiar noise coming from his bedroom. He curiously walked through the hall and into his room to see his cell phone vibrating on his night stand.

“Who, for the love of God is texting me at 3am?” He grumbled.

The sour look he had on his face diminished as soon as he saw the message.