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Author's Chapter Notes:
My response to the challenge "Jinx Buy Me Another Coke". 

“That’s what she said!”

He hears her mutter right beside him, as he’s saying the same thing. And then it’s an habit that had taken years to solidify so that few months apart wouldn’t make it go away. “Jinx!” he says, turning his head towards her and noticing how seldom they stand so close to one another these days, but of course everybody is in the conference room, including Karen, so it doesn’t count.

There is no more room for that thought as she registers that last word. Her eyes open wide and her mouth forms a perfect o, perfect but for the fact that the corners of her lips are twitching in what he can swear is the beginning of a smile.

And that’s so very wrong because Pam hates to lose, even when it’s just jinx. She would’ve frowned and even scowl a little because she didn't say it first. But that was before. Before he opened his big fat mouth to then take off for months. Before he came back carrying tons of awkwardness to place right on those 5 feet - no, 4 - that separate her from him.

This time the frown arrives some good 15 seconds late, kept at bay by that start of a smile that never properly forms, but never goes away either. Jim smirks, because that is what he would’ve done back then, and she shakes her head slowly, now looking at her feet.

“You know the rules of jinx are unflinchingly rigid,” he can’t help muttering just for her to hear.

She shakes her head again. As soon as Michael finishes the meeting, Pam beacons him to follow her. He does, and has the feeling Karen is trying to catch his eye as she sits down at her own desk, but he ignores her. Suddenly that small figure in a pink cardigan walking in front of him is the most important thing on Earth.

Suddenly.

Yeah, right.

They walk through the kitchen, the annex, and finally inside the break room, and Jim is sad because this is finishing way too soon. But he enjoyed it, nonetheless. That promise of a smile will be on his dreams for many nights, he’s sure of it.

But Pam is standing in front of the vending machine, arms crossed. Her right foot is tapping impatiently. He feels he needs to catch up on something but what?

Pam huffs, and points at the rows of cans inside the machine.

There is no Coke. No Fanta. He would’ve noticed if he’d still had that particular brand of grape soda instead of just water. But he didn’t because he’s evolving or something. Sometime between his leaving and now, somebody decided to go for generic sodas.

Pam pulls at his sleeve and he turns to see her pleading eyes as she points at the alternative version of Coke. This is too good to be true.

“Nope,” he says, putting his hands deep inside his pockets. “You know the rules. It has to be a Coke. And lunch break just passed so… apparently you don’t have excuses to go and buy one outside.” Jim stares at her, really stares, to notice how she looks panicked for a second, and then again that promise of a smile, maybe for a quarter of a second until finally her eyes set on something that shines beautifully.

Challenge accepted.

Pam shrugs, and turns around to walk back to the office. Jim follows her, unable to stop his mind to go down memory lane to that other time… it would’ve been so simple then. And yet so very complicated. Did you want to tell me something? You look like you want to tell me something.

How was it possible that she was so clueless about his feelings during that period? Trying to shake the memory off his head he sits down and a second later, Karen is standing next to him.

“What was that about?”

He knows she’s trying her best to sound friendly instead of jealous, but he’s tired of the whole situation in which he feels trapped, and right now he doesn’t feel like recognizing the effort.

Trapped is exactly the word he used last night, which lead them to the biggest fight they had so far, and even though he made an effort to leave her on more or less friendly terms, he’s still feeling that mounting irritation he now associates with her.

“Nothing,” he says, and looks into the spreadsheet on his monitor as if it was the most fascinating thing. Very close to the truth, in fact, because Pam is standing up to send a fax and he can see her in the reflection on his screen.

Karen must have felt the dismissal because she’s no longer there. He barely registers, his mind working on one question. What to do now? This is such a good opportunity to… to what, exactly?

He turns around, deliberately, as she is sitting down again.

Jim raises his eyebrows.

Pam frowns.

Jim smirks.

Pam sticks out her tongue.

He has forgotten all about this warm feeling that takes over his insides whenever he and Pam are sharing a moment. How long has it been since the last time he felt this way?

He turns around slowly. He needs ideas, and quickly.

Before he could really think if this is a good one, he takes his cell phone and dials the office’s number. He hears the familiar ringing tone at his back and smiles. One ring, two, three…

“You’ve reached Dunder Mifflin, Scranton,” says Pam’s recorded voice. “Please leave a message and-”

He hangs up and turns his chair around again, one eyebrow raised. Pam rolls her eyes at him.

It’s too strong a pull. Jim stands up and walks that familiar path, even though it’s slightly different now.

“Voicemail, Beesly. Really?”

She raises her eyebrows. The familiar name now sounds strange to her ears too. He can’t remember the last time he called her Beesly, either.

The recovery is quick though, and she nods.

“What if it’s important?”

She huffs and shakes her head.

“What if it’s for me?”

A shrug, and Pam looks down at her screen. Jim can't see it, but he can swear it’s sudoku.

“Pam!” Michael’s voice startles them, and he gives a small chuckle as she stands up and walks around her desk.

“No cheating,” he says. As a response he sees her make a rude hand gesture for the briefest of seconds.

He sits back at his desk, wishing to be a fly on Michael’s wall. He knows she’s not going to cheat, but he would kill to see how she’ll manage.

She exits a good quarter of an hour later, carrying several files, and glares at him. He raises his hands in mock innocence.

In the meantime his mind has drawn a blank on what his next step should be. The only thought fixed in his mind is how easy he and Pam have landed into that comforting, exciting place of banter and pranks and how he never ever wants to leave it again.

At some point Angela walks over to Pam’s desk and he stops typing to better listen to the one sided conversation. At first, Pam seems to just nod and “mmhmm” at the many forms she has to file for accounting, but then the Angela is asking her what’s the matter and he just needs to turn around, casually pretending to stretch. Jim manages to catch Pam’s attempts at a fit of fake cough that sounds convincingly enough for Angela to run away, her question unanswered.

The IM window looks familiar despite his long absence.

JHalpert: Hey, Pam? You need something for that cough of yours?

PBeesly: …

JHalpert: What? Jinx here too, really?

PBeesly: :-x

JHalpert: Is that a kiss?

Wait, where did that come from?

PBeesly: x_x

JHalpert: Ok. I must say, I admire your perseverance.

PBeesly: -_-

JHalpert: You could always sneak out and get me a Coke… but then again how to explain you’re going out without saying anything? What a dilemma.

PBeesly: >:(

JHalpert: Ok, I’ll let you be. It’s going to be just a couple of hours after all.

PBeesly signed off.

Jim turns around, panicking for a second that she really is angry, but he can see her eyes filled with silent laughter over the monitor.

And suddenly the path is clear. Ugly, but clear.

“Can I talk to you outside for a second?” he tells Karen and there is probably something in his demeanor that gives her a clue because she frowns and follows without a word.

The parking lot is not the best place to break up, but he does it anyway. She calls him names and tells him he’ll have to get used to have her there because she’s not jeopardizing her career for him. He just nods. He would’ve preferred she’d go home, but he knows that’s just egoistic and not very realistic.

Slowly he makes his way back to the office, to give Karen some time to compose herself or go to the bathroom.

Sure enough, she’s not at her desk when he opens the office door. He feels Pam looking at him and his own stare is met by her wording mutely you ok?.

“I am,” he says quietly, “and no cheating.”

She smiles, but her eyebrows remain frowned.

It takes Karen no longer than 10 minutes to go back to her desk and start working as if nothing has happened. Jim suspects it’s a façade but there’s nothing he’s willing to do about it.

The clock seems to go slower on purpose as 5 o’clock refuses to arrive. Until finally, 5 minutes earlier, Karen stands up and leaves, not a word to any of her colleagues. Stanley follows, and then Michael, and the rest of the office, nobody really noticing how Pam never voices an answer to their goodbyes.

He is afraid she’d leave too but he suspects she won’t. The rules are the rules and she won’t go home until he gets a Coke. Sure enough, as he stands up and stretches, she walks around her desk and stands right in front of him.

Her open hand touches his chest, making him freeze on the spot and almost miss her mouthing wait here.

Jim just nods, as if it was him and not her the one jinxed. Pam takes her purse and jacket and exits the office almost at a run.

At a loss of what to do, he walks towards her desk, taps on its surface for a moment, and then finally walks around it. It’s the first time he sees this side of it since he came back from Stamford.

He remembers some of the pictures: Pam and her sister, her parents. There used to be one of she and Roy, but now there’s nothing on its place. There are three post-it notes on the side her monitor. Class rescheduled Thursday. Call dad. Buy goddamn Coke.

Jim takes that last one, bright purple, and places it next to the picture of her and her sister. As he does, he notices there is another picture behind it. Carefully he takes it and gasps, as a younger version of him smiles, winking, pressed next to a younger Pam that’s beaming. He remembers that time, after minigolf, when they took those pictures while waiting for the rest.

He used to have the two missing pictures, but he can’t say if he knows where they are right now. They used to be pinned to his wall, over his desk. He remembers having to hide them the night of the barbeque and good thing he did it since Pam spent some time inside his bedroom.

He looks at the picture again. In the second one he’s looking at her and he wonders if she saw the longing in his eyes. If she keeps this picture for that particular reason.

Carefully he puts the picture back, well hidden. His heart is beating fast, how long will it take Pam to get a Coke? What will happen once she gives it to him?

He takes a deep breath and just as he’s going back to his desk, the door opens and a slightly breathless Pam enters with a Coke in her outstretched hand.

He doesn’t take it though.

The minute he does, according to the unflinchingly rigid rules of jinx, she will be able to talk and he will lose her chance.

Before the thought really forms, his body is acting. His hand moves, not to the Coke but to her cheek, and he pulls her towards him, pressing his lips against hers. He feels the cold can against his chest, but it’s forgotten as his lips move and hers reply, making him remember why it hurt so much last time. Because there is no pain like the one that hits you when you lose perfection.

His other hand pulls at her waist, and she finally moves. The dull clunk of the can on the carpet precedes her hands on his neck, ice cold, travelling into his hair, and he does the same, remembering how soft hers is.

But he needs to see those eyes again, he needs to be sure it’s her and, even if it’s just a silly game, she won’t be able to say I can’t this time. So he pulls back a little, his forehead touching hers, and he sees she’s beaming while her fingers gently caress his neck.

“I love you… so much,” he whispers, not caring if she’ll run away this time because he suspects she won’t.

But she pushes him, hard, and he has to take a full step back as she bends down, takes the abandoned can of Coke and pushes it into his hand, closing her fingers around his.

Her voice is hoarse from lack of use, but to him it’s the most beautiful sound ever.

“I love you too, dork.”

Chapter End Notes:

I've borrowed the IM idea from Noble Land Mermaid's "Expressions in Emoticons" (if you haven't read it yet, go. Now!)

Happy April 1st!

 



Kuri333 is the author of 16 other stories.
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