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Two Days Before Christmas

Karen hears a knock on the door, wanting to slam it right back in the person’s face; she already knows who it is, and he wants to talk about things.  Explain his side of the story, like it matters.

She answers the door.  It’s Jim.

“I um, forgot my—”

She chucks his scarf at him, “Happy Holidays.”

She attempts that triumphant slam when he stops it, “Karen, I don’t want us to leave things like this.”

“What do you want, Halpert?”

“To talk.”

He’s desperate.  He sounds desperate, too.  She should be enjoying this, but she isn’t.

With a glare, she opens the door and he lets himself in.

He walks over to the couch once more, as she sits to the chair adjacent to it.  This oughta be good.

Jim tries to start things off, “Look, I—”

“No.  I go first.”

He sighs through his nose, being patient, “Alright.”

“You broke my heart, Halpert.  I’ve been dumped before, and it stung, but not nearly as much as last night.”  He looks down in shame, again.  “I know it’s only been about a month, but I felt something.  And you kept dragging it on just so you can get over someone else?  Was I just some rebound?”

Her choice of words hits him harder, “Karen—”

“The past month with you have been the best.  Despite this town and that office, I’ve had fun.  Did any of that mean anything to you?”

“Of course, it did.”

“Well, obviously it didn’t, since I was only some backup for when she hurt your feelings.”

“Karen, you don’t—”

“Why are you so obsessed with her, anyway?”

“Because I’m in love with her.”

His sudden change in volume caught her off guard.

“Alright?  A-and you think I never wanted to be with you?  You said it yourself: she broke my heart.  And when I moved to Stamford, I was fine,” his voice steadily gets louder, “I was making good money, I got to know you— I was in a great place in my life.  And now I’m back here with these conflicting emotions and falling back into these old habits when I’m trying to move on, Karen, I don’t want to be who I was.  I don’t—” he thinks out loud, “Part of me doesn’t want to be in love with Pam.  But for some godforsaken reason, all of me is.  And you… you’re so beautiful and talented and smart and you should have never been dragged into this in the first place, we both know you deserve better,” he looks down and back at her, “I’m sorry.  If I could take everything back I would, but…” and he ends with a Jim shrug.

Her mouth is slightly agape throughout all of this.  She absorbs every single word, her gears turning.  And then something clicks:

“Did you… move to Stamford because of her?”

He purses his lips and nods shyly, looking away, “She rejected me.  Twice.”

“That must’ve sucked.”  She almost feels sorry for the guy.

“Yup,” he still can’t look at her, “And I knew she wanted to talk things out, but I figured I could move on, and I just… can’t,” he finally looks at her face-to-face, “I’m a real piece of work, aren’t I?”

She nods, “Yeah, you kinda are.”

“So on a scale of one to ten, how badly do you wanna kick my ass right now?”

She can tell he’s trying to lighten the mood, so she plays along, “Only about a six.”

He smiles at that, “On my scale, it’s about an eight.”

She somehow laughs quietly, if only a little bit.  But she swallows, “I do forgive you, you know.”

He nods, “Thank you.”

She shakily breaths out, trying to suppress her emotions, “I’m probably gonna ask Wallace if I can transfer.”

“You’re not staying?” he asks, disappointed.

“Jim… I moved here for you,” she repeats, “There’s nothing for me here.”

“I understand.”

Karen keeps dwelling on what she lost, and tries to keep her tears at bay, but it gets harder when she notices Jim walking over to her.  She couldn’t help it as she stands up and allows him to hug her, her arms dangling.  It’s the last thing she wants.  To display weakness, vulnerability, while she’s meant to feel triumphant.  She’s out of a bad relationship, this is a good thing, right?  She dumped his sorry ass the night before, she made him feel like crap, as he rightfully should.  She even allowed herself to forgive him.  But then

“It’s okay to cry if you need to.”

She gives up the ghost and lets it out, hugging him back.  God, she’ll miss his hugs.  And the smell of his cologne.  And the way he’s able to calm anyone down without even having to say a word.

He lets go slowly to really look at her, “I know the last thing you want from me is advice,” he starts, “but all I have to say is don’t let this idiot ruin your Christmas,” he tells her, referring to himself, “Have fun, visit family, watch another movie as bad as the one we gifted each other,” she smiles at that, “You deserve a good Christmas.”

“It’s just…” she swallows, “That’s hard for me, Jim.”

“I know,” he sighs, “And again, I’m so sorry.”

She nods, trying to put everything into perspective, “It’s okay, it’s… better now than later.”

“Yeah.”  The two finally let go of each other.  “I know it’s stupid to ask if we can still be friends…”

“We can,” she smiles, “But one more thing.”

“Yeah?”

“I like Pam.  A lot.”

“She’s great, isn’t she?”

“Be good to her.  Or I will kick the shit out of you.”

He chuckles lightly, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“And that is not a threat, that is a promise,” she starts to laugh alongside him.

“10-4.”

“Good,” she nods, “Now get the hell out of my apartment.”

“You got it,” he says, going back to the couch to grab his scarf, “And thank you.  For everything.”

She fears she might cry again, but pushes it down, “Likewise.”

He grants her a sad smile, “Goodbye, Karen.”

“Goodbye, Jim.”

And with that, he’s off.

When she hears the door close, she takes a deep breath in, followed by a long and shaky exhale, as she figures out which challenge to tackle next.

Meanwhile, Jim has another stop to make.


Pam hears a knock as she’s getting her coffee; she’s dressed in her PJs, but she’s expecting a package so it won’t even matter.

She opens the door, mid-yawn, but flinches at who it is.

“Morning, Beesly.”

“Jim!” she’s nervous, “Um, morning.”

He smiles, nervous himself, “Sorry, I shouldn’t drop by like this—”

“No, no-no, you’re fine.  If I would’ve known—”

“Don’t worry about it,” he shrugs it off, “May I come in?”

“Oh!  Yeah, sure,” she moves out of his way.

“Thanks,” he walks in, “Lovely place.”

“Thank you,” she smiles just by being around him, closing the door, “Sorry, my hosting skills are a bit rocky in the morning.”

“Nice kitchen.”

“Thanks,” she goes over around the bar to get her drink, “Coffee?”

“No thanks,” he sits across from her, “There is something about this kitchen, though.”

“What’s that?”

“There’s only one of them.”

She jokingly rolls her eyes, “Jim, that’s not how any of that works.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Quite sure.”

“Okay, Miss 28 Days Later.”  She reaches over and lightly smack his arm.  “Ow!”

“Oh, hush, that didn’t hurt.”

He goes ahead and starts, “Yeah, sorry again for dropping by unannounced.”

“You’re just fine, Jim.  What brings you?”

“Yeah, I wanted to tell you…” he just tells her, “I broke up with Karen last night.”

Her face falls, “I’m so sorry,” she tells him genuinely.  And she is genuine.  She likes Karen, and she doesn’t deserve to be dumped by her jerk of an ex.  But that also means her best friend is single now, so that helps.

“It’s okay,” he nods, “It just… we never, really clicked.  If that makes sense.”

“Right,” she responds, “How’s she holding up?“

“She’ll be okay,” he reassures her, “She’s upset and pissed, but…”

“Yeah,” it’s all she’s got.

They both look down, not sure how to proceed.

He delays it longer, “So how’s Roy?”

“Oh,” She wasn’t expecting that, “He’s um… he’s good, yeah.”

“Good,” he nods.  He feels bad for Roy, he does, but Roy’s the last thing he wants to talk about right now.  “I also came to say I’m sorry.”

“For what?” she asks, curious.

“For, y’know,” he rubs the back of his neck, “my… departure.”

“…Oh.”  That’s a way to phrase it.

“Yeah, I left you all without a goodbye, and that was… shitty of me.”

“…Yeah, that kinda was.”  He didn’t expect that response to be so cutting.  She didn’t, either.

He’s ashamed, but feels the need to justify it, “Look, I… I just needed a change of pace.”  Even he knew that was BS the moment it came out of his mouth.

“Yeah, sure,” she goes ahead and wipes her mug at the sink, letting all that anger bubble up.

His anger starts to bubble, as well, “It sounds like you don’t believe me.”

“No, not really,” she’s purposefully cutting with her words this time, not even looking up.

He shakes his head, “I didn’t know what else—”

“Here’s something you could have done, Jim,” she looks at him now, angry, “You could’ve not run out on me and everyone else.”

“Pam, I couldn’t be here.”

“Why not?”

“You know why.”

“Yeah, no I don’t,” she folds her arms.

“Pam, I told you how I felt.  Twice.  And you decided you were gonna marry him anyway.”

“I didn’t decide on anything.”

“Well that’s what you answered.”

“And that’s on me.  But I was scared and confused after my best friend dropped a bomb on me.  I had no time to think.”

“What was there to think about, Pam?”

“Jim, I was with Roy for nearly a decade, okay?  And—”

“And how well has he treated you?”

“Don’t start that,” she has to contain herself, “Roy’s family is like mine.  We’re still friends, even now.  And breaking up with him wasn’t the cut-and-dry choice you might think it was.”

“Oh, yeah,” he starts being sarcastic, “That was interesting news to hear from Kevin, of all people.”

“I don’t need to update you on every detail of my life,” she points out, “Especially not after, you know, you just ran.”

“I couldn’t take it, Pam,” he raises his voice, “If you wanted to marry him, fine, but don’t act like you didn’t break my heart.”

“I’m sorry, Jim, I really am, I just wanted us to talk about it after—”

“What more was there to say?” he shrugs, genuinely confused.

“I was going to tell you to just… wait.  That I needed time to think and take everything in.  And this was the next day, too.  But you’re way too impatient for that, it seems.”

He shakes his head, “This was a mistake,” he get up from the bar and makes a beeline from the door.

“That’s it?” she scoffs, “Figures.”

“I said I was sorry, Pam!” he’s at the door, “Alright, isn’t that enough for you?”

She walks over to him, “It’s gonna take a bit more than ‘I’m sorry’, Jim.”

“So, what, we can’t be friends anymore?”

She stands in front of him, “We can be the moment you get your head out of your ass!”

“Funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you.”

“Fine!  I’ll be sure to not let you know!”

“Good!”

“Good!”

Fine!”

Fine!”

*slam!*

Pam strides to her bedroom as she comes down from the high.  Once she’s back in bed and her head hits her pillow, she starts to cry again.

Jim slams his head on the steering wheel thrice before heading home, realizing how badly he hurt himself as he puts the car in reverse.

Neither do anything but wallow in self-pity for the rest of the day.


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