Things had been going fine at the basketball game on Saturday - Isabel and Marina seemed to accept that Pam had spoken to someone about it and wanted to go; she knew they were a little suspicious of why she'd dragged them there but overall, they kept their cool. That was until the point in the game Jim had spotted her after scoring. He grinned and gave her a wave as he jogged past. Pam blushed and waved back. 

"Well, that's not Roy." 

Pam sighed, knowing in that moment the gig was up, and gave Marina a look that said ‘well, obviously'.

"He's cute," Isabel stated, watching as he ran a hand through his hair. "You know him?" 

"Oh, umm - kind of, yeah, I guess. We bumped into each other a few times." 

"And?"

"And what? We bumped into each other a few times, he invited me to watch the game, that's it." 

"Mm'kay, because the way you're blushing says otherwise," Marina grinned. 

"Does he know you have a - Roy?" Isabel asked. She was not a fan of Roy, and always made it a point not to refer to him as Pam's boyfriend. 

"I dunno, maybe," Pam shrugged as she pulled the sleeves of her maroon Nike sweatshirt over her hands to cover them. "I've never mentioned Roy, but he does follow me on Instagram so... he may have seen him on there." 

"Ooh... potential drama," Marina wiggled her eyebrows. "Pam Beesly, who would've thought, huh?"

"Wh- it's- no, it's- we're just like, friends I guess," Pam said, despite the way her heart fluttered and cheeks tinged pink as he ran past and threw another wonky grin her way. "Can we just - watch the game?"

Isabel huffed and pulled out her phone, opening Instagram and pulling up Pam's account. "Please show me where on your page there is any indication of you being in a relationship, Pam," she said, before starting to read out the contents of her profile. "Pamela Morgan. She/her. Art student from PA. Paint palette emoji, coffee emoji. And... literally zero photos with Roy."

Damnit, Pam bit her lip. She knew she hadn't posted photos with Roy - it was rare they did anything worth sharing to her grid, and in the early days of their relationship when they did cute date things, she'd not really been using the app properly. In those days all she posted were pictures of any new paints she bought, her family dog Joni and cat Mitchell, and cute teapots, which would garner all of 3 likes back in the day if she was lucky. "Sometimes he's in my story. And there's no obvious tea emoji." 

"Mm'kay," Isabel smirked, putting her phone on her lap. 

"It doesn't matter anyway."

Sensing Pam's annoyance, they'd given the subject up for the rest of the game. But Pam had then been distracted, because she knew it mattered. Who went to a game they were invited to by someone they'd met twice - briefly - if they didn't matter? Pam felt some kind of connection to Jim - he was funny, he showed an interest in her art, he was charming in his own goofy way. Yes, he was attractive. Yes, she automatically smiled whenever he glanced her way during his game. Yes, she jumped up to cheer at the end of the game as his team won. 

But those were friend things too, Pam told herself. 

She was glad that Isabel began leading them out when the game finished, because Pam felt an inexplicable desire to run and hug Jim and congratulate him on the game. Still a friendly gesture if it weren't for the butterflies in her stomach. Later that evening, when she posted a selfie to her story before going out for the night in her most flattering dress from her best angle and spent a significant portion of her evening checking who had viewed the story, she knew she needed to get a grip on her newfound obsession with Jim. 

* 

It didn't bring Pam much joy to spend an hour getting ready for a dinner out with Roy the following Thursday, having made a resolution to put a bit more effort into her relationship. While Isabel and Marina (and surprisingly to Pam, Angela too had agreed from her side of the room) expressed that Roy was the one who needed to be putting in the effort, Pam figured she ought to as well. She chose to ignore Marina's question about whether she felt the need to put more effort in out of guilt and went on to explain that maybe they were just adjusting to their relationship being two college students at different stages of their college journey rather than the two high school students they'd started out as.

But Pam's resolution began to crack very soon after making it as she sent her fifth message to Roy that Thursday evening.  

Pam Beesly

Whatever, I'm going. 

This wasn't the first time Pam had been stood up by her boyfriend. It was never a good feeling, but this time was the worst. Having told Roy that she felt they both needed to put a little more into the relationship, and him agreeing, they'd planned to go for a nice dinner on campus. She'd even started to feel a little glimmer that maybe the relationship was worth putting in the effort for after all.  

Of course Roy didn't show up. 

So Pam pulled her AirPods out from the pocket of her black faux leather clutch purse and shoved them a little too forcefully into her ears, hitting play without really looking at the screen when the Apple Music swatch appeared. When the sounds of Post Malone filled her ears, she gave an approving nod and started to make her way back. 

Of course that was the night she once more bumped into Jim. 

"Sh- sorry," Pam looked to her right as she slowed the annoyed power walk she hadn't realised she was doing, stopping suddenly as she realised who it was. "Oh, Jim."

Having ignored the person bumping into him, Jim had continued walking ahead and had to stop and turn back when he heard his name being called. "Oh! Pam, hey." 

"Hi," Pam removed her right AirPod.

"You heading back?" 

"Uh, yeah." 

Jim waited a second for Pam to catch up to him and they continued walking in silence for a couple of minutes. He could sense that Pam wasn't in the best mood, although she had removed her second AirPod and put them away into their case and her bag. He wanted to tell her that she looked nice and ask what was wrong, but her occasional huffy sigh and intense glare at the ground told him to keep silent. It seemed to be the correct thing to do, as eventually her huffy sighs lessened, gaze softened, and she fiddled with the small tassel attached to her bag.

Finally, Pam looked up and over to Jim. "Good night?" 

"It was ok," Jim shrugged. Something told him not to ask how hers was - clearly if it was good, she'd be in a better mood. "I lost to Mark at Mario Kart but I got an extra slice of pickle in my burger so..."

Pam's lips quirked up into a tiny smile and she breathed out a quick chuckle. They walked quietly for a bit again, before she slowed her pace and frowned. "I was meant to meet my boyfriend for dinner tonight." 

"Oh."

Jim did his best to hide his surprise at this bit of information, making sure his brows didn't rise too high and voice didn't sound too questioning as he slowed his pace to match Pam's. If Pam noticed his surprise, she didn't show it. 

"I got all dressed up," Pam held her arms out slightly, palms facing up, in an attempt to show the bit of effort she'd put into her outfit. "He stood me up."

"Oh man, I'm so sorry."  

"Again," Pam said with a tight smile. 

"Wow. That sucks." 

"Yeah."

"I guess losing Mario Kart tonight kind of pales in comparison."

"Yeah... I kinda win this one, sorry." Pam couldn't believe that she was actually making light out of a situation that had her so down just minutes ago. She gestured at a bench just slightly ahead of them. "Mind if we sit for a moment?" 

"Sure."

Dropping down onto the bench with a sigh, Pam watched as Jim sat down next to her, putting his black Under Armour backpack next to him, and pulled down the sleeves of his navy Adidas sweatshirt. Pam decided then that she preferred him with his sleeves rolled up, and sighed again because the weather was only going to get colder now. As they sat there in companionable silence, Pam smoothed out her navy-and-yellow floral midi skirt and found herself wondering if Jim was going to comment on her appearance tonight. It wasn't that she was expecting a compliment, but as someone who didn't often get compliments and had put on a nice outfit and done her hair, she'd really appreciate one. Especially tonight.

"I feel so stupid," Pam found herself saying out loud. "I got kinda dressed up and nearly burned the carpet with my curler and organised a nice meal out and... it was all for nothing." She wasn't going to tell Jim that she also felt stupid for fishing for a compliment from him, though that was more embarrassing. 

"No, it's... it's your boyfriend who should feel stupid," Jim shrugged a shoulder. He hardly knew Pam, but the information that she had a boyfriend (who stood her up - what a moron, Jim thought) felt like a punch in the gut. He wanted to add on that she looked great, but when she'd just been stood up it didn't seem like the right thing to focus on. 

With a tiny snort, Pam rolled her eyes. Roy would at most feel mildly guilty if she was lucky and be ready with his excuse and brush it off - but she didn't want to tell Jim that. It was embarrassing enough, especially because Jim was at least a teeny, tiny part of why she'd decided she needed to put more effort into her relationship. "Well..." She lifted her arms from her lap and dropped them back down, looking away. 

"Hey," Jim gently nudged Pam, "his loss." He opened his backpack and pulled out one full bottle of water and a half-drunk bottle of Cool Blue Gatorade. He held the water out to Pam. "You'd probably be having some table water arriving about now?"

Turning to look at Jim, Pam raised a brow contradictory to the smile creeping onto her lips. She could feel the remnants of her annoyance slowly melting away as she accepted the water bottle from Jim. "Funny. Thank you."

"Cheers," Jim tapped his Gatorade to the bottle in Pam's hands before taking a sip. 

"Cheers," Pam echoed, opening the bottle and taking a few long gulps. Like Jim's presence, it was unexpectedly refreshing - something she hadn't realised she needed. "Do you have a three-course dinner in there as well?"

"Mmm, lets see," Jim twisted his lips as he moved his backpack onto his lap and zipped it open again. "My notepad, iPad, my charger... oh! It's not a three-course meal, but I do have a box of Jell-o," Jim grinned as he held up the box. 

"Alright, why the Jell-o?" 

Jim's grin grew even wider as he put the Jell-o box back into his backpack. "Oh, it's, umm... well, easier to explain another time."

"Oo-kay," Pam chuckled. "So it's not the dessert portion of my meal?"

"Nope, sorry," Jim zipped up his backpack again. 

"I guess I'll be having sympathy noodles in bed," Pam sighed. "My roommate is gonna be annoyed but... I don't care." 

"Sounds like a suitable alternative."

Pam looked up at Jim for a moment, biting her lip nervously as she watched him play with the straps of his backpack. She shouldn't want him to suggest that they just go grab some food, or ask him if he wanted to have noodles with her in the common area of her dorm. It was the whole reason she'd gone to this effort to have a nice evening with Roy. But that evening hadn't happened; an evening with Jim had. Perhaps they were just sitting on a bench on the sidewalk, but it sort of felt worth it to be dressed up. She wondered if Jim wanted to invite her for food, but didn't blame him for not doing so. She'd only just told him that she had a boyfriend - an inattentive one at that. Perhaps she was just hoping. With a sigh, Pam shook her head and gave her knees a sad smile.

"Thank you for making me feel better about my crappy evening," Pam smiled as she got up. "I actually had fun." 

Standing, Jim couldn't help the wide smile on his face at Pam's words. He was glad to have helped her out, and that she'd actually enjoyed herself - thanks to him. "Any time," he said.  

On a whim, he opened his arms out to give her a hug, but didn't expect for Pam to fully launch herself into the hug before he'd even finished extending his arms. She held onto him tightly as he wrapped his arms around her, his smile staying on his face all the way until they both stepped out of the hug. 

"Thank you," Pam smiled shyly. 

"Hey, no problem. Which way are you heading?" 

Five minutes later, Pam was grinning to herself as she prepared her instant noodles. It had been a nice change to be dropped off to her dorm, although she'd found herself blushing and tripping over her words as she re-visited the idea of asking Jim to join her for some instant noodles as she thanked him once again before saying goodnight. This wasn't the evening she had planned, but despite everything, this wasn't a bad evening.  

* 

"Babe, I'm so sorry," Roy found himself apologising the following morning as he held out a cup of takeout coffee to Pam. 

Rolling her eyes, Pam stepped out of her room, closing the door behind her and grabbing the coffee from Roy's hands. She didn't need Angela getting involved at this hour in the morning. "What's your excuse this time?"

"I was at Creed's place and we were watching the game and I swear I was going to leave, but we got carried away and I didn't notice the time - I'm so, so sorry." 

"So you stood me up to hang out with that creepy old guy?" Pam frowned as she took a sip of the coffee, her tone flat and unimpressed. "What is this?" 

"Peppermint latte, and Creed said the term is ‘mature student', actually."

"When have you ever seen me drink a peppermint latte and like it?" Pam handed the coffee back to Roy. "Look, I got dressed up, I did my hair, I waited there like an idiot. It was so humiliating Roy, and this isn't the first time." 

"I know, I know, I'm sorry." 

"I mean is it really that hard to keep an eye on the time when you know you're meant to be meeting you girlfriend for dinner?" Pam glared at Roy as he stood there in silence, his head hanging down. "After we both agreed that maybe we need to work on things a bit more. Just feels you don't think it's worth the effort."  

"It is - I do think it's worth the effort Pam, I just - I'm sorry, I fucked up," Roy sighed. "Let me make it up to you, Pam - can we have dinner tonight? Please?"  

Looking down at her feet, Pam shrugged. Part of her wanted to say no - a big part of her. But... this was part of the trying to put in more effort, right? She tried to ignore the images of her short evening with Jim last night playing in her mind, but they did make her feel enough guilt to agree to Roy's request. "Fine. Pick me up at seven from the art block." 

* 

Later that morning, Pam found herself distracted by the notifications popping up on her phone, briefly ignoring the graphics project she was supposed to be working on.

[pamelam] jim9334

Sent a photo

[pamelam] jim9334

The reason for the jello :D :D 

[pamelam] jim9334

If you never see me again its cos my roommate has killed me for my latest prank :D  

Curious, she clicked on the first notification to open up the messages Jim had just sent her via Instagram. She was completely not ready for the contents of the photo, and found herself giggling out loud. 

Clearly frustrated and yelling something at Jim - probably for taking the photo - a bespectacled guy with an intensely precise middle part and fully buttoned mustard yellow polo shirt was holding a plate of yellow jello - and inside the jello was a stapler.