Pam’s mother always said that until you witnessed it first hand, you might find it hard to believe that Pam had a temper.

“We’ll see. I'm sure you guys will find your way back to one another someday,” Jim said with a smirk.

Pam felt her temper rising. She swallowed, trying to push it down, but she was so tired of staying quiet, so tired of smiling when she felt like crying, so done with trying to pretend that everything was fine when in fact it was the exact opposite of fine. She was embarrassed about her brief reunion with Roy and upset about his attack on Jim.

But most of all, she was tired of missing Jim. He was right there in front of her, but he wasn’t really there at all, and that suddenly pissed her off. A curtain of red seemed to fall in front of her eyes and she knew that there was no stopping the words that were about to come out of her mouth.

“Fuck you, Jim Halpert!”

Jim stopped in his tracks, stunned. Had Pam seriously just yelled at him, and dropped an F-bomb? He didn’t think he’d ever heard her swear before. He slowly turned and looked at her.

Pam looked shocked. Two spots of colour had appeared on her cheeks, and her whole body was heaving with fury.
“That’s right, I said it, and I meant it, Jim. Fuck you. Fuck you and your smirks, and your judgement, and your ‘who gives a shit’ attitude. I am SO tired of you.”

Jim gave his head a little shake, not taking his eyes off Pam. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How dare she get angry at him, after everything she’d done, and not done. Despite his best efforts, Jim could feel his own anger starting to bubble up. But even so, his next words surprised him.

“What gives you the right to talk to me like that? I’m just saying what seems to be true. You broke up with a Roy for a few months, then you got back together. You managed to get him pissed off at me, and I almost got my lights punched out. I don’t think you’ve got any right to be the angry one here.”

Jim’s tone got harsher and his voice got louder the longer he talked. It felt so good to finally say what had been sitting in his throat.

Pam’s eyes were shooting daggers at him. He’d never seen her angry at all before, let alone in a state like this, and he didn’t care. He was tired of pretending nothing had happened between them.

“What gives me the right? What gives ME the right?” Pam turned the volume up with each statement. Out in the office, heads were starting to turn as everyone realized that something interesting was happening in the break room. Dwight’s hand went to his desk drawer as he stood up to assess the possible threat.

Pam took two steps closer to Jim in the small kitchen, narrowing her eyes and leaning toward him. “You rocked my world Halpert. You dropped a bomb on me.” Then she practically shouts, “You tell me you’re in love with me, and then you just disappear, and I have no right to be angry at you?”

Everyone in the office sucks in a collective gasp and all eyes turn to Karen. Karen seems to be unable to take her eyes off the break room door, but her face has gone pale and her hands are gripping the edge of her desk.

Jim’s eyes are wide, and he can’t tear his gaze away from Pam. It feels like the two of them are in a bubble full of long-standing anger and hurt and frustration. He’s somehow completely forgotten that they’re in the break room at work, in public, with their coworkers now eagerly listening. Including his girlfriend.

His eyes bore into Pam’s. He steps toward her, closing the distance between them. It seems he’s unable to stop the words coming out of his mouth.

“What difference did it make to you if I disappeared? I put myself out there, laid it all on the line, and all you could say was that I ‘misinterpreted’ our friendship. Which is a huge crock of shit by the way,” he hissed at her. “As if you didn’t already know exactly how I felt about you.”

Pam was furious. She felt like she was releasing months of pain and anger and she didn’t really care who heard her as she shot back at him, “What are you talking about? I had no idea how you felt about me. How could I know? You never gave me so much as a hint.”

As Pam says these words, a voice of reason begins to niggle at the corner of her mind. She might not have realized how deeply he felt about her, but she knew he had feelings for her. If she’d been honest with herself, she knew she had feelings for him too, long before that ill-fated casino night. But she wasn’t about to let that change how she felt right now.

“Oh come on Pam, you must think I’m completely stupid if I’m going to believe that. You had to know how I felt. God knows I sucked at hiding it. Dinner on the roof? The teapot? All the time I spent standing at reception? All the times I just happened to work late when you worked late? Come on. You knew very well how I felt. Apparently, you just didn’t feel the same.” Jim feels a ping in his heart. Even after all this time, he can’t believe that she didn’t return his feelings even a tiny bit.

Pam’s voice is still angry, but it’s softened just a little when she says, “How would you know how I feel about anything? You never even bother to talk to me anymore.”

“Well you never bothered to tell me you cancelled your wedding. I had to hear about it through the grapevine. That told me a lot about how you felt about me. Or didn’t feel about me, to be accurate.”

“You don’t know anything about me anymore, Jim,” Pam spat at him. “You might be ‘evolving’ but when it comes to me, you don’t know shit.”

Toby opens the door to the kitchen and says softly, “Guys? Is everything ok?”

With that, the bubble around the two of them seems to pop. They look at each other, shocked, and realize that they’re standing face to face, both breathing heavily from the emotion they’ve just spewed at each other. They’re close enough to touch. Close enough to see the tears standing in both their eyes. If it weren’t for their angry words, it might seem that they were about to kiss.

They break the heated stare they’ve been holding and look around. Toby has his head poked around the door looking at them with concern. Out in the office, Dwight is on his feet, on high alert, with what looks like a weapon in his hand. Phyllis looks worried. Angela is shaking her head in disapproval.

Karen’s desk is empty.

Pam looks back at Jim, and brings her hand to her mouth, her eyes welling with unshed tears. She turns and dashes into the ladies’ room behind her.

Jim rubs the back of his neck and turns to Toby. “Hey sorry, just an argument that got out of hand I guess.” He glances at the door of the washroom where Pam has disappeared.

Out in the office, Creed shakes his head and smiles. “Lovers quarrel,” he mutters as he returns to his desk.