Karen was pushing him out the door.
His eyes were burning, his lungs felt on fire. He was confused, they had been talking about…what?….a movie?…. then he heard screaming remembered seeing Pam’s face, heard Roy yell at him…he must have ducked?… His eyes burned and he was coughing, could hear Karen doing the same next to him.
Downstairs they shouted to Hank to call 911, that Roy had come in and started a fight.
“Already on it, Roy was not friendly, pacing out in the parking lot and then when he came through that door… figured something was up.” Hank made for the stairs and headed up.
Jim and Karen headed outside to try and get air. Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration was on his way around the building “You two ok? Hank told me there is a problem up there, I am going for Phyllis.” The words came out fast as he walked by.
“Yeah, we are ok… Dwight had pepper spray and it was aimed at Roy. But they could use you up there.” Karen responded, apparently having more mental capacity than Jim at the moment. He couldn’t have told you what happened or where…his mind only saw the frozen, fearful look on Pam’s face right before a Roy came at him.
Jim had never seen anyone look so terrified before…you can’t fake that, not even the best actress could fake that look.
What the hell was that?
Jim had been watching Pam, paying attention to her moods and body language a long ass time and he had never seen that look before. Karen was talking to him “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT JIM?!?! Why was that asshole aiming for you?!?!?” He was trying to pay attention, to make his brain work to formulate an answer and all it could do was zoom in on the expression he saw in her face as he heard Roy yell “HEY HALPERT!”
Pam had been terrified, scared for her life.
Pam.
Pam rooted in her seat, all smiles or moments of confidence gone.
Pam, frozen, maybe mouthing words he couldn’t hear now, but unable to move.
Pam.
His Pam.
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Find me here and speak to me
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heartbeats stretched out eternally
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I want to feel you, I need to hear you
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You are the light that's leading me
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“JIM!!!! ARE YOU GOING TO FUCKING SAY ANYTHING?!?!” Karen was now screeching in his direction while their eyes involuntarily wept, trying to clear the irritants. Behind her Jim could make out sirens.
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To the place where I find peace again
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Mustering all he had he said “Karen, I do not know why Roy came at me NOW. I probably deserved it, but not for anything now.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?? You have been working things out with ME and now we almost get decked by some warehouse thug???”
Jim remained still, he made no attempt to look toward her. “Karen….. I am sorry.”
“You are SORRY?!?!?!” Karen yelled in exasperation, interrupting him. She always interrupted him. She always needed to be right, give him that smirk of ‘upper class knowledge’. “You are going to just fucking sit there and say you are sorry?!?!?”
“Yes, that is what I am going to do.” Jim shrugged, red-tearing-eyes cast the the ground at his feet. “I am going to sit here, until the ambulance comes. I am going to get my eyes cleaned out and then I am walking back in to get Pam.”
“What the fuck Jim?? You aren’t going to do anything for me? Nothing to see if I am ok? Just sitting there thinking of HER?!?!” Karen was trying to stomp and storm around, but her reddened eyes missed the rock and she almost tripped. “FUCK!!! Are you KIDDING ME?!?!? I moved all the way here because YOU wanted to date and now I am in a lease and you want to fucking go check on PAM?!?!?”
“Yes. Karen, that is exactly what I am going to do. We are FINE, you got pepper spray on you and in your eyes, but it will wash off. How can you be screaming at me and being so selfish?” He saw nothing on the ground in front of him. His mind was only on that face, eyes wide and pupils dilated, back stiffened and feet pushing her chair instinctively away from the energy that came trough the door. Where was she going to go? If he had come at her, she was cornered, literally…but her body had instinctively tried to move a few inches back.
Like she had on Casino Night. When he said he loved her, that he needed her to hear it…once.
Her eyes had widened and she had stepped back. Not enough for his stupid ass to have noticed then, but he saw it now.
He had professed his feelings, unexpectedly, without her preparing for it.
And that had terrified her.
He hadn’t noticed, or given her a chance to think for herself.
He hadn’t waited to do anything else.
He walked away. Even after they kissed…ok, after he followed her and kissed her….when she did not respond immediately how he expected, in that fun, sweet, Pam way, he had walked away again.
