Jim finally rested his head on his pillow. He had been sitting up because the stress created by Karen's call had prevented him from lying down. But for some reason, he felt... peaceful. Now there's something he didn't expect.

How could he possibly feel at peace after discovering that he had somehow created two conflicting lifestyles?

The way of life he had been living since last May is one any man would dream of. Hot girl, advancing career, and constant forward progression with countless opportunities to experience new things. The life he left behind, however, was more like him. It just worked. That is as long as it had one key ingredient... Pam. The only way to define this way of life is that it simply revolved around love, and everything else fell into place.

But did he really leave anything behind? No I left a dream behind... wishful thinking.

His two separate lifestyles were beginning to collide, and Jim knew he had to make a choice between going after a dream or staying where he was. Staying where he was in life was the easy thing to do, but what if he ended up feeling this empty and frustrated all the time? Putting all his feelings for Pam out on the table wasn't exactly something he wanted to go through again. A third rejection would be utterly unbearable... but if his dream became a reality... there wouldn't really be words to express his feelings. Well, "contentment" would probably sum it up pretty well.

Two thoughts filled Jim's mind at that time. One was his previous discovery that love would make things fall into place. The other was Michael's advice from the Booze Cruise last year.

"Never, ever, ever, give up."

The two thoughts were interdependent, one could not exist without the other. Things fell into place if you loved someone because if you loved someone, you never gave up. Ever.

And there was his answer. He just had to try with Pam, at least one more time. As for Karen... Well that relationship just isn't doing that much for me now is it?

Jim glanced over at the clock again. 1:53 AM. Did I just have a late-night talk with myself? Oh wow... I did didn't I?

Now or never. It was time to put an end to the conflict.

Jim retrieved his phone from the nightstand and called Pam.

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