- Text Size +
Story Notes:

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

 

 

Invitation

 

 

‘We…’ Karen quickly amended, ‘I mean, I should have a party this weekend.’

Jim continued to focus on the framed print she’d asked him to hang on the living room wall of her new apartment. He’d somehow managed to put it in the wrong spot twice already, plus he wanted to see where she was going with this before venturing a response.

‘A welcome home to me thing,’ she elaborated.

He turned to look at her. She was wearing a pristine white terry cloth robe, her face was scrubbed clean, her hair still wet from the shower. All traces of the absurd makeover she’d had with Phyllis earlier that day had been erased. It was actually a bit of a relief – he’d found it slightly disturbing that such a striking transformation had resulted from little more than a new hairdo. He ran his fingers through his own hair. Karen frequently suggested he have it cut into a ‘more professional style,’ but so far he’d resisted by pretending to think she was joking.

‘Kind of short notice, isn’t it?’ he asked finally, trying to sound neutral.

‘I suppose,’ she replied. ‘It’s just...well, after living in that crappy hotel for so long, I feel like celebrating. And it would be nice to invite everyone over.’

Karen hadn’t really made any new friends in Scranton yet. A queasy feeling began to fester in the pit of his stomach.

Everyone?

‘Well, everyone at work,’ she clarified impatiently. ‘And I’m sure they don’t have much to do on weekends anyway. You can invite anyone else you want too…’

She stopped short and stared at him and he realized his expression must have resembled a child's, just told he was going to the doctor’s office for a vaccination. He quickly rearranged his features into what he hoped passed for enthusiasm.

‘Sure. Sounds great,’ he erred on the side of overkill. ‘But, I’ll have to think about who, you know, who’s around and…’

The barely perceptible disappointment that clouded Karen’s eyes told him she knew he was stalling. She didn’t miss much, but she was not easily deterred either.

‘Okay,’ she regrouped, cheerful again. ‘Just drinks and cheese and crackers and stuff. Nothing too fancy…it’s not like this crowd would be into that anyway.’

Later that evening, he atoned by joining Karen on the sofa to watch a PBS crime drama she liked, but he found unfathomable. Inevitably, the plot involved a bucolic town in the English countryside, plagued by an inordinate number of murders. Just as the elderly detective, pulled out of retirement to solve the mystery, clued into the obvious fact that Lady Something-or-Other wasn't as upper crusty as she appeared, Jim noticed a list lying on the coffee table, written in Karen's precise handwriting.

‘You’re inviting Pam?’ he asked, reading the familiar names.

He wished he could reel the words back in as soon as they left his mouth. That very afternoon over coffee, he’d reassured her that Pam was just a girl he once knew, the object of a silly crush he’d once had. That she was no one.

‘Of course, why wouldn’t I?’ Karen’s tone was matter of fact, but laced with challenge.

‘No, nothing. It’s just that I think she’s taking art classes at night, so you know…she may not be free.’

‘I seriously doubt she has class on Sunday night, Jim.’

She turned her attention back to the television. Another local had come to an untimely demise on the estate, face down in her Ladyship's picture perfect pond.

The plot thickened.

He only ended up inviting three non-work friends and of those, only two were available: Mark and his old high school friend Will, with whom he still played ball on Saturday mornings.

Will…’ Karen squinted, as if trying to place him. She’d picked Jim up at the Y once and briefly met him. ‘Wait. Isn’t he the cute blond one?’

‘Um …I guess.’

‘Great,’ she chirped. ‘You should introduce him to Pam.’

Jim excused himself to get a beer.

Turned out, Karen had been right. Despite the last minute invitation, no one at the office had other plans. They all said yes.

All of them.


 


You must login (register) to review or leave jellybeans