The first thing Roy had noticed about Pammy, all those years ago—well, aside from the hair and the general cuteness—was her love of art. It was hard to miss; every time he’d catch her eye, she’d drop her head back into a book, and eventually he noticed that it wasn’t a regular book like they read in class but something bigger, blanker…a sketchbook, he eventually realized. He never really got a good look at what, exactly, she might have been sketching, but he did start to notice other things: a packet of colored pencils in her bag, a crayon in her purse. She was always drawing, at least whenever she had the time between classes, homework, and (eventually) him.

He never did get to see the sketchbook, but once he got to know her, he did get to see the finished products. Her bedroom at her parents’ house was full of the stuff, all over the walls (and yes, he did eventually notice the walls, not just the fact that he was in Pammy’s bedroom). He loved seeing her stuff. It made him feel good to know that his girlfriend was smart, creative, interesting. She wasn’t like the other girls he or his friends had dated, and he liked that.

Over the years she stopped doing quite as much drawing. At least he thought so. Their bedroom wasn’t covered in her art, like hers had been, and he saw the sketchbook come out less and less. He didn’t really mind; if her interest in art was waning, well, his interests had changed too. He played less football and more poker, drag-raced less and barbecued more. They grew together, right, like couples did.

So it came as a real surprise when she walked through the door to their house still talking about that art internship.

He’d told her no already, hadn’t he? OK, he hadn’t really been listening, because Jan had just told him and the boys that they’d lose their jobs if they unionized, so that was a bigger deal. Couldn’t she see that? But she insisted he look at the pamphlet again, and her very insistence surprised him into taking a look.

His first reaction after the surprise was pride. Someone upstairs had told her she had talent? Someone had recognized something in his Pammy they wanted to support? Awesome. But then he heard the details. Weekends away? Weeks in New York, without pay? This was her “big news”? They couldn’t afford that. It was a cool idea, but…maybe a few years later? Maybe if they had built up a nest egg? Or at least get a little better pay and benefits. As he’d just been reminded that afternoon, the warehouse rate stank, and while everyone upstairs made more, Pammy as the receptionist was an exception to that, more or less. So thank you no, he wasn’t going to give any more free labor to the company, and neither was his damn girlfriend. Especially not if it meant actually giving up income while she was in New York. As the conversation grew, he got more and more frustrated, and yeah, sure, maybe he got a little extra frustrated because she seemed to be making a big deal out of it, and maybe he started saying things like “I’m putting my foot down here” but they’d get over it, you know? People fight. They grow. They get over it.

It was while he was trying to think about why she’d been so stubborn about this thing that it finally clicked. Halpert.

Funny, he’d just had a good interaction with Halpert that morning. Checked in on that crush (which he’d always suspected—score one for team observant Roy!), told him they were cool, ragged on Pammy a little bit to show they were all buds, like you did, you know? But this, this idea that Pammy had that this internship (seriously, an unpaid internship. Like a sucker) was a good idea, a big break, a must-do? That had to be coming from Halpert.

Now that he thought about it, had Halpert actually said anything today? He’d nodded through their little conversation, and he could have sworn he was rolling his eyes during the “manly bonding time” Scott had insisted on. OK, that was fair, actually; Roy had done his own eye-rolling too, and then there was that Dwight guy…”drive them to church” indeed. That better be a metaphor. But some of that eye-rolling looked like it was directed as him. And not about the union stuff he and Darryl got into. Like Halpert had ever had to take a girl out for more than drinks.

But anyway, he’d need to keep a closer eye on that guy. Not that he was worried about Pammy falling for that lanky jerk, but he wasn’t so sure about the reverse. That crush…might not have been quite so long ago.