"Pam?"  

"Yes? Oh - my gosh, Larisa, hi!" Pam grinned as she turned around and found herself face to face with Larisa Halpert, precisely a year after first meeting her. "How are you?"

"I'm good, though dreading spending a week with Tom, Pete, and their crappy jokes," Larisa rolled her eyes. "How are things with you?" 

"Well, you know, I'm okay," Pam shrugged.

"Sure?" Larisa gestured to the wine bottles and bags of chocolate Pam was clutching in her arms, her car keys dangling from her pinky finger with a receipt scrunched between her fingers. "Gas station wine and chocolate seem more like what I need to survive the week with those two." 

"Oh, I, umm, broke up with my... boyfriend this year," Pam grimaced, catching herself just in time as she remembered that she'd removed her ring when she'd met the Halpert family, "so I'm just making sure I'm equipped to handle all the questions and disappointment that will be flying my way this holiday season."

"Huh. Well, since I am still single and I'm using Jim's credit card for gas," Larisa turned to the ‘Christmas Essentials' shelf to her left and grabbed a bottle of Merlot, "seems only fair. Sorry to hear about your... boyfriend."

"Oh, it was... you know, it just wasn't meant to be. Are you here with Jim?"

"He went to the bathroom," Larisa nodded her head in the direction of the exit, where a path led to the side of the gas station which housed the bathrooms. "He thinks he's so... what did he say? Oh, so evolved for drinking water now, like he discovered it, but he just has to go to the bathroom more." 

Pam had to refrain from rolling her eyes at the word ‘evolved'. "Yeah. I guess you guys are on your way back to your parents from your dinner out?" 

"Yup, though it was a bit busier with Tom's fiancé and Pete's pregnant wife there. To be honest, you were way more fun," Larisa admitted. 

"Aw, thanks," Pam grinned. "It was definitely a lot of fun, I really enjoyed myself. Though that's exciting for Pete - wow!"

"I know right, someone wants to make a baby with that, wow" Larisa stuck her tongue out and made a retching noise. "They already have kids; they had Vanessa a few years before getting engaged. But hey, I get a nephew, so that's fun for me." 

"Yeah, definitely - exciting for you all," Pam smiled. She was excited for the expanding Halpert family, though part of her was sad that she no longer had a friendship with Jim where he would have already told her this news. Instead she was hearing it from his sister in a gas station just outside of Scranton. "I should let you get going. Have a good Christmas, Larisa - say hi to your family from me." 

"I will - have a nice Christmas, Pam - enjoy your chocolates." 

"Oh, I will."

As Pam moved toward the exit, Larisa stared after her, thinking of how different their meeting was this year. All the gaps that weren't filled - in Pam's story, in Jim's story. Larisa truly didn't believe that Jim's girlfriend simply ‘couldn't make it' at any point in the holidays. Nor did she believe that Pam was bingeing on gas station chocolates over her ‘break up' with her ‘boyfriend'. Curiosity - and her inability to stay out of anybody's business - got the better of Larisa and she called out "Pam!" and did a quick jog to catch up with her before she reached the door.  

"Did I drop something?" 

"No, umm, I just..." Larisa sighed. It suddenly felt like the completely wrong moment to confront this woman who, truthfully, she only somewhat knew - even if she had felt a sisterly connection to Pam when they met last year. But maybe they could get to know each other better - not just because Larisa wanted to know more, but she genuinely liked Pam. "Do you want to stop by maybe? I guess maybe not tonight if you're expected at your parents house, but - sometime in the week?"

"Oh! Umm, thank you, that's really nice of you, I just..." Pam looked around and bit her lip. Arms full of cheap wine and chocolate, and memories of how much she'd enjoyed spending time with Larisa last year, gave Pam to motivation to share a little bit of her truth. Not unlike her brother, Larisa had a quality that made it easy for Pam to trust her. "Honestly, I don‘t think I'm in the right place for that. Just... you know - Jim... and Karen... not enough comfort food in the world for that. I mean, I don't know if Jim told you anything? But... yeah. Sorry." 

Larisa gave Pam a comforting smile. "No, I totally get that. I mean, he didn't tell me everything, but... enough. I'm sorry. But just - if it helps at all? Jim didn't invite his girlfriend for any of our Christmas stuff."

"Oh?" That was news to Pam. "No Karen?"

Larisa snorted. "Didn't even know her name was Karen until you mentioned her just now. Just that he was seeing someone."

"Oh."

"I asked what her name is, and he mumbled that it's just some girl from work and that I should mind my own business," Larisa shrugged and rolled her eyes, "which wasn't very nice of him."

"That's kind of surprising. They've been dating a while."

"Well... make of that what you will."

Pam nodded, a small smile playing on her lips. "That did help a little, thank you, Larisa." 

"Any time. And if you bump into someone called John Benson while visiting your parents? Let me know if he's seeing anyone."

"Who is John Benson?" Pam raised a brow. "And how do you know where my parents live?"  

"Jim told me, obviously. And he's my ex. I'd like to know many good bad decisions to make this year." 

"Well, I'll keep an ear out, but make a few on my behalf," Pam shrugged slightly to indicate the goods in her arms. "On that note, I really will get going." 

"Oh, yeah, shit, Jim is waiting for me in the car. Or he's still in the bathroom regretting eating those chilli peppers my mom dared him to eat for stealing her garlic bread." 

"Honestly, kinda hope it's the second."

"Me too," Larisa grinned. 

They said their goodbyes, and Larisa went to pay for her items and the gas. She grabbed a copy of Us Weekly magazine and a brown A4 postage envelope before paying and shoved her items quickly into her handbag before heading back out to Jim's car.

"That took you forever," Jim said, starting the car up. 

"Sorry, I ran into... a friend," Larisa smiled.

"Why the pause? Was it an old boyfriend?"

"Not at all. Quite the opposite." 

"What's the opposite of... hmm, Larisa's ex-boyfriend?" Jim asked as he pulled out of the gas station.

"You tell me. Can I make a kinda weird but interesting bet with you?"

"Depends."

"I got a copy of Us Weekly," Larisa pulled the magazine, envelope and pen out of her handbag, and placed it on her lap. "I'm going to place a fifty dollar bet on something, but I can't tell you what it is, and the time span is up to five years. I want you to bet against me."

"Fifty dollars?" Jim paused to contemplate. If he lost, it was fifty dollars - but he probably wouldn't be too fussed in five years time. If he won, he got a hundred dollars which he'd probably quite enjoy in five years time. "Okay, fine."

"Perfect. So, I'm gonna write my bet on this magazine so we know it was placed this week - in fact, I'll write down that the bet was placed on December 23rd, because that's actually important. I'm gonna put it in the envelope with each of our fifty dollars inside. Every Christmas for the next five years I'll let you know who is closest to winning."

"Fine. I'm kinda intrigued by this," Jim admitted, feeling for his wallet in the center console of his car with one hand as he drove. He felt Larisa shove his hand away and take the wallet. "Don't take more than fifty, I know how much is in there."

Larisa grinned to herself as she pulled out a few bills and counted fifty from Jim's wallet, then fifty from her own, and popped the money into the envelope. She held the cover of the magazine open to block what she was writing inside from Jim's view in case they reached a red light and he took a peek at what she was writing. 

Jim + Pam to be (at least) engaged by 23 December 2011.

* 

Lying in bed the following morning in her red Merry Woofmas! sausage dog patterned pajamas, Pam thought back to the previous Christmas Eve. She had woken up with the same joy she had gone to sleep with, and had later received a message from Jim wishing her a ‘Happy Christmas Eve, Beesly!' and how much he and his family had loved having her join them for dinner. Nothing about the kiss, but she didn't blame him. She just loved that he remembered her saying that she liked Christmas Eve because it was always a cosy day the first year they'd met, and him texting her every morning on Christmas Eve since then. 

While she'd had a lovely Christmas that year, Pam regretted that she'd assumed just kissing Jim was... enough. She had hoped maybe they'd talk when they got back to work, or he'd do... something, because she'd done her part. She found herself wondering in the new year how, after years of being annoyed at Roy for giving her no sign that their relationship was of any importance to him (‘another year still only engaged and no sign of actually ever getting married in sight' was an argument they had many times, and Pam was reaching the end of her patience) Jim now was giving her no sign that the kiss meant anything. 

Obviously, she learned a little too late that she had been wrong. She still wondered at least twice a day if Jim had been about to kiss her or tell her to leave Roy or something in that vicinity when they were on that freezing cold boat trip on Lake Wallenpaupack. 

With a groan, Pam pulled her pillow out from beneath her head and pulled it over her face. She kicked her legs about in annoyance, before shooting upright as she remembered Larisa telling her the previous evening that Jim hadn't invited Karen for Christmas. She grabbed her phone from her bedside table. If Jim could send her a message when she was engaged (and home alone), she could do the same when he was simply dating someone. She hadn't wanted to not message him - they had been getting along a little better lately - but it wasn't particularly easy to convince herself to do so when all she wanted to do was... well, eat a lot of food. She'd leave the good bad decisions up to Larisa, given that hadn't worked out so well for her last year. 

She quickly typed out a message to Jim, reading Happy Christmas Eve :) hope you and your family all had a lovely meal out yesterday and you got to your parents safely before flopping back down in bed. 

To Pam's surprise, the reply was almost instant. 

Happy Christmas Eve, Beesly :) It was noisy but good, and the drive was ok though my sister sang along to the radio for almost a whole hour... I may have to deduct a gift!