Pam’s stomach lurched as she saw her fiancée propping up the bar, a beer in each hand. She felt sick. Sick that she had chosen him, sick that this was her life. Mostly just sick that she had broken her best friends heart.
As she made her way across the room, she thought back to earlier. That moment on the stairway. When she had paused. When she had been about to turn back. To tell him that she was ‘in’. To tell him it had always been Jim and Pam.
And then she’d seen Karen.
Pam had surprised herself at how quickly she was able to construct her ‘I’m so happy to be getting married and working as a receptionist’ face, which meant Karen hadn’t seemed to suspect anything.
She nodded along to Pam’s story of forgetting to send a fax earlier and had quickly changed the subject to the fact the new temp wouldn’t leave her alone.
So Pam had gone to put her make up back on, to put herself together again and was now making her way over to Roy.
He greeted her by shouting ‘Pammy’ and grabbing her towards him kiss. He smelt like beer and his words were starting to slur. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t go from a kiss like that to a kiss like this.
After a minute or two she told him she was going to find Karen and he waved her away. She went outside and breathed in the cool night air. She finally started to cry, crying for everything that she had just lost, crying for everything she could have had.
She stood there for quite a while. Crying silently, in case anybody found her, tears trickling down her face, make up ruined.
She was used to this.
**************
Jim had expected someone to interrupt him, but he hadn’t expected it to be her. He had expected Pam might find him, to say something different or more likely to say something the same. He had expected Roy might find him, probably to knock him out. He had expected the late night cleaners to interrupt him, to send him on his way. But he hadn’t expected that he Jim Halpert would have spent the last ten minutes in the arms of Karen Fillapelli. Karen who had said nothing but wiped his tears and held him.
She finally spoke, her words soft and slow, desperate it seemed not to break him. “Jim, you don’t need to tell me, I overheard you and Pam the other week talking about your parents last week. It’s rough. My parents divorced when I was twelve and I guess however old you are it doesn’t get any easier. When you’re younger, you think that you’re parents....you think that it’s true love and it should last forever.”
Jim didn’t answer, after all she hadn’t asked him to. And she was right, his parents were getting divorced. She didn’t need to know the rest. She didn't need to know the real reason.
“I just wish Pam had told me when she saw me on the stairway.”
He couldn’t help but blurt it out. “You saw Pam, was she ok?”
Karen nodded, “yeah fine, I mean she gave me this whole story about a fax, obviously she was trying to protect you, but yeah she’s gone to find Roy.” She rolled her eyes, “he’s at the bar.”
“Jim I know this isn’t probably a good time,” she continued “but I need to speak to you.” She didn’t break eye contact and continued to stroke his arm.
He looked at her, comforting him, watching out for him. Whilst Pam had already pretending like nothing had happened and rushed back to her fiancé. Since their first lunch date Karen had tried to be there for him, tried to be his best friend, but he had resigned her to beers and football games, resigned her to second best. Because of Pam.
He gently removed her hand from his arm and kissed her. It seemed like the right thing to do.
He was surprised at how good it felt.
****************
Karen pulled away from him gently. She didn’t want to kiss him like this. For it to be a kiss that was about pain, or fear, or loneliness. She wanted it to be about love.
She didn’t know if she should have pushed him. Forced him to tell her something, because she didn’t know for sure what was going on. But she had seem them earlier together and then Pam had been here. With him.
Sure Pam had told her about a fax, but she had noticed that her eyes seemed vacant and her voice sounded high pitched. Like she was desperate to say something, or do something, but couldn’t.
So Karen had nodded and changed the subject, desperate to avoid an emotional outburst. Her and Pam did lots of things together. Shopping, movies, dinner, catching an exhibition. They didn't do emotional outbursts. They didn't really talk about things beyond the surface, which suited Karen just fine.
And then she had found him, like this, lost and alone and she had tried to tell herself that it didn’t have to mean anything, that Pam could have just been consoling him.
She wanted to ask him outright but she was scared about what he would say. Scared that they wouldn’t be able to go forward once he’d said it, scared it would change everything.
“Jim”, she murmured, “you’re upset, let’s not do this now, not like this, you don’t need to do this.”
“I like you Karen” he said simply, before kissing her again.
It was enough for now.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Next one up! Hopefully this was prove that this is in no way a horror fic!
Usual disclaimer applies.
Song lyric title from The Saturday's song, Issues.
Usual disclaimer applies.
Song lyric title from The Saturday's song, Issues.
Chapter End Notes:
Ooh,what a twist, you probably saw that coming!
I hope that I am trying to get across that this isn't just a rebound, I think he geniuniely likes Karen and he's trying to see if that could be something more.
Like in S3 I don't think Jim consciously rebounded, just decided to try and feel something for her.Which is why after a while of toying with it I kept the line "He was surprised at how good it felt."
As for Karen,I hope she comes across as desperate rather than bunny boiler. Again, thinking of S3 Karen, she was willing to ignore a lot of things to keep Jim!
Anyway, review so appreciated! Make my day!
I hope that I am trying to get across that this isn't just a rebound, I think he geniuniely likes Karen and he's trying to see if that could be something more.
Like in S3 I don't think Jim consciously rebounded, just decided to try and feel something for her.Which is why after a while of toying with it I kept the line "He was surprised at how good it felt."
As for Karen,I hope she comes across as desperate rather than bunny boiler. Again, thinking of S3 Karen, she was willing to ignore a lot of things to keep Jim!
Anyway, review so appreciated! Make my day!
