Jim was still somewhat in awe of how quickly things were moving. Pam had applied to Pratt and expected to hear very soon after she had an in-person interview with a faculty member—something called rolling admissions that he’d never experienced before, not that he’d applied to a lot of schools in his day—and he was busily preparing for his interview with David Wallace. He still wasn’t entirely sure that he wanted to spend a career in Dunder Mifflin: he’d always imagined himself working more in the sports world, maybe sports marketing or consulting even if not playing or managing. Dunder Mifflin was the only job he’d ever actually successfully held down (summer youth camps aside) but that didn’t mean it was the be-all and the end-all for him.

That said, it would be pretty cool to make a lot more money and live in New York with Pam if she got into Pratt.

Of course, it would be pretty cool to live with Pam wherever they were. And to watch her blossom at Pratt if she got in (when she got in, he thought loyally) even if they were still in Scranton. But it wouldn’t hurt to live in a bustling metropolis with the kinds of cultural capital she enjoyed and have a little extra spending money to boot. Not to mention that he was pretty sure he wouldn’t have to do direct sales anymore if he got this position, which was a plus. He was good at sales, but he was always better at the people-management part of it than at the brass-tacks side of it. Hammering people for the last cent on recycled paper wasn’t his forte as much as building up a relationship and figuring out what would motivate the other person to buy, and he figured there were more relationships and motivations and less paper-qua-paper or money-qua-money at the corporate level.

He hoped so, anyway.

And there was another reason he was thinking about corporate more seriously than he’d ever expected to. He knew Pam was it for him—had been for as long as he’d known her—but that didn’t mean he wasn’t looking for the right time to make that official. He didn’t want to be Roy, proposing to her and then postponing it out indefinitely. He wanted to propose to her at the right time, and the perfect time, and that meant two things: he needed a moment, and he needed a transition. It wasn’t right to propose to Pam over pancakes in the morning or at night while he watched her paint (or tried to—she was still a bit shy about being watched as the actual paint went on the actual canvas, though she’d let him watch her sketch). She deserved better than that, more epic than that: a real moment of joy to have and to hold onto.

So he wasn’t unaware that a major life transition like starting a new job or a new school or a new city was exactly the sort of moment that might be best crowned with a proposal. After all, if you had to overhaul a bunch of things anyway, why not one more? And one more that he’d been waiting semipatiently for for years—or at least months since he’d bought that ring.

“Hey, Halpert, how’s prep going?” Karen broke him out of his train of thought as he sat staring at his computer monitor. “May the best woman win, right?”

“Right.” He half-grinned at her. “How about the best person?”

“I could live with that.”

“Fool.” Dwight was, of course, listening in. “The female of the species is much weaker than the male. By accepting Jim’s offer of the best person losing you have lowered your chance of victory by 38%.” He sneered at Jim. “Although it is Jim you have chosen to compete with, which improves the odds substantially in your favor.”

“Uh, Dwight, no.” Jim didn’t have time for rampant sexism right now, especially with his friend and  his girlfriend listening in. “Just no.”

Dwight just sniffed and went back to his work, and Jim gave Karen a sympathetic smile. She rolled her eyes.

“Anyway, I just came by to ask if you wanted to carpool.”

“Nah.” He gestured with his head towards Pam. “I’m giving her a ride in for her in-person interview.”

“Oh, right.” Karen nodded. “Good luck, Pam!” she said, raising her voice. “Pratt would be stupid not to take you.”

**

“Thanks.” Pam smiled at Karen. It was nice to have a friend around the place, even if all of them were actively trying to not be in the place after today. She’d managed to get her in-person interview at Pratt scheduled for the same day as Jim’s interview, but now she was starting to think that was a bad sign. What if one of them went badly? What if both of them did? Would they be stuck in New York being angry at the world?

But would she really want to be in Scranton while Jim was in New York waiting to hear about his fate? Or vice-versa?

No.

It was better to take the risk of a terrible horrible no-good very bad day than to risk two; and it was better to have Jim there for her and her there for him.

She sighed. She had already sent in her portfolio and her personal statement and her old (old) transcripts, and she didn’t really feel like there was anything more she could do. The centerpiece of her portfolio was a series of watercolors she’d done of Mina—the little girl’s quicksilver changes of attitude and pose serving to highlight (she hoped) her own range of abilities. The one she was proudest of showed Willy and Mina almost like a Madonna and child: except while Willy showed the patient pride of a Madonna to a T, Mina’s mischievous stare was like no Christ-child she’d ever drawn. Alongside those character studies were oils of the Sydney skyline, highlighting the Opera House, and (because the Pratt application specifically asked for one ‘lighter subject’) her animal caricatures of her officemates.

She just hoped it was all good enough.

She had, oddly, no such worries about Jim. Who wouldn’t want Jim? He was totally qualified, and smart, everyone loved him…she acknowledged she was biased, as his girlfriend, but come on. He was going to get it. She just hoped Karen (and Michael, to a lesser extent) wasn’t too crushed when Jim got the job.

She also hoped—well, really, expected, because she was not going be insecure about this, dammit—that things would be OK with her and Jim if he got the job and she didn’t get into Pratt, or vice-versa. They were strong. They’d do fine. It would be better if they could do things in parallel, of course, but they would support each other no matter what.

It was nice to finally be in a relationship like that.