My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Legally Blonde

Fargo

Dazed and Confused

What was this, classics hour on Qantas? Jim flipped through the movie options, but his mind was far away in both space and time, back in Scranton, back at the time he and Pam had teased each other about their movie choices. He couldn’t even remember what he’d chosen (besides Dazed and Confused, because Pam liked it too) but her list, and her comments on other people’s, were burned into his memory.

Naturally, he initially selected Dazed and Confused, as the only one of those that he actually liked, but before opening credits finished rolling he’d clicked back and started Legally Blonde. If he was going to watch something he knew Pam liked, he was going to watch something he didn’t. Just to remind him that they weren’t actually perfectly matched.

It would have helped more if he hadn’t enjoyed every moment of it. I mean, it wasn’t a top five, but then it hadn’t made Pam’s either. He issued a silent prayer for forgiveness for having made fun of her and Meredith, but especially Katy. He had been very wrong. Almost as wrong as taking a shower with a perm.

But he hadn’t been wrong about being compatible with Pam, dammit. Though at least since Katy also liked the movie, he had categorical proof that he wasn’t inherently compatible with anyone who liked it—and he wasn’t even touching the idea of Meredith.

Still, he almost regretted having watched and enjoyed the movie, especially since he still had another 12 hours in the air, and no relief from his thoughts of Pam. He squirmed in his seat and endured the glare of his seatmate, who clearly did not appreciate the movement of their shared elbow space. He smiled a pained apology and tried his best to suffer in silence. Which, he reflected, was what he was best at.

**

The business center was silent but open, eerie green lights from the printer reflecting off the black screens of two chunky desktops that were probably as old as anything at Dunder Mifflin. Pam sat down in one of the swivel chairs, which creaked as her weight descended upon it, and spun around slowly. The lights gradually blinked on, one by one, and it became very clear that the “business center” didn’t see a lot of business—or cleaning.

But did it have a working internet connection? She let her spin slow to a stop and slid the chair back to the desk. She nudged the mouse and waited as the ancient machine whirred into life. She held her breath, worried it might ask her for a password or a login that she did not have, but the screen, when it came up, was a standard Windows XP desktop. She clicked Start and then, with a sigh, Internet Explorer. Jim had recently gotten her to install Firefox on her work computer, so she was no longer used to IE, and somehow the lack of Mozilla on the business center computer made her feel his absence even more heartily, if that were possible. She waited (again) for the molasses-slow connection to show her her email, skipping over the seven emails from Roy (though not without noticing the increasingly poor spelling and extravagant punctuation in the subject lines with a wince) and focusing on the one from Toby, the last one she’d read on the computer back at her…at Roy’s, before the move.

Dear Pam,

I’m afraid that it’s against company policy for me to divulge anything about any other employee’s leave plans.

However, in regards to your own, I can confirm that you are still scheduled for your own leave beginning June 7 and continuing for three weeks. I’m sorry to hear you won’t be using it for a honeymoon, but company policy does not permit the unscheduling of scheduled leave. Enjoy the time off!

Sincerely,

Toby Flenderson

PS As a concerned friend, I hope you’re doing OK. You can call me on my personal cell at any time: 570 334 4591. And, as his friend, I can say, entirely separately from any official leave plans, that Jim just happened to tell me that he was flying into Sydney arriving June 8. He’s probably already left, given the time zones and everything.

Toby

Toby Flenderson

Human Resources—Dunder Mifflin

tflenderson@dunder-mifflin.com

(570)904-5023 x66

So. She wasn’t going into work until late June—but she also was definitely not going to the Poconos with Roy Anderson. She’d promised him he and Kenny could go, since that seemed to be the only thing he’d really, truly wanted besides the TV and the Playstation, which she’d been all too happy not to take. Well, and her, but that, she had decided firmly, was hers and hers alone. So she was here, in Scranton for three weeks, without a honeymoon.

She supposed she could use the time to find an apartment, but…she just didn’t find the urge in her. One place was as good as another, and the hotel would do for now—she had plenty of money from the now ex-wedding fund, especially since in exchange for giving Roy and Kenny the honeymoon she’d kept most of the actual cash. And besides, her friend Izzy had offered her a couch, and while she didn’t relish couch-surfing in the abstract, she missed hanging out with Izzy until all hours, like they’d done in college. Not forever, of course, but long enough that she wouldn’t really feel any advantage to spending all her time finding an apartment any earlier.

Before she noticed what she was doing, she found herself clicking on the blinking ad in the corner of the screen. CHEAPOAIR: LAST MINUTE FLIGHTS.