He got to her apartment around 7 o'clock the next night. Her place was on the way and he figured why not just pick her up.
What he hadn't bet on was how much different she would look compared to the Pam he saw at the office that day. He had gone home to switch his jacket and tie for a cream sweater, but Pam was a completely different story. She met him down in the lobby of her apartment building wearing straight-legged jeans with high heeled black boots and a pink coat she had buttoned up to protect her from the November cold. She also let her hair down and it cascaded over the shoulders of her coat. She was gorgeous as always in Jim's mind.
"You ready?" she asked.
"Yep," Jim told her, trying to sound casual despite the fact that his heart was racing.
They walked out to his car in the parking lot and he unlocked the passenger door for her. "You will be happy to know I cleaned the Corolla for you."
"I'm impressed," she said, climbing in.
Jim got in on his side and noticed she was looking around the car. "You didn't believe me, did you?"
She laughed. "I did. It's just that now that I have my own car, it's become a bit of a mess with my stuff in it. I don't remember what a clean car looks like."
Jim was about to ask what it was like before with Roy's truck -- was he a neat freak about it or was it just his crap in the... No, he told himself. We won't talk about that tonight. It's just Pam and me tonight.
They got to Scranton Perks and Jim easily found a parking spot on the street.
"I thought you didn't like parallel parking," Pam said.
"My apartment in Stamford was on a busy street so I had to get used to it," he said.
"Gotcha," she said, trying to sound nonchalant. She didn't want to hear about Stamford, didn't want to even hear the name of the damn town. She just wanted to forget that whole thing about Jim leaving.
They walked inside and Jim looked around. The walls were a cranberry red with plush couches and chairs, small tables, and art work on the walls. He followed Pam up to the counter and ordered a plain coffee. She got a latte. "A latte, huh?" he said. "Fancy NewBeesly indeed."
She smiled and they both started to pull their wallets out before she stopped him. "I invited you so I'm buying."
"Pam, I can pay for my own coffee."
"I'm sure you got a big pay raise for agreeing to be Michael's Number Two, but we're not in the office right now so I'm buying," Pam said, handing the guy behind the counter her money before Jim could say anything else. He felt bad he wasn't paying -- especially considering she was right and he did indeed get that nice raise -- but he also liked this assertive version of Pam.
They grabbed their drinks and sat down in two black chairs in the corner. Pam unbuttoned her coat, revealing a dark red shirt underneath that matched the walls of the coffee shop. Jim noticed the plunging neck line -- something he never saw Old Pam wear -- and the shimmer from some sort of sparkly lotion or perfume she must have put on. He couldn't help but take it all in.
"I like that shirt," he said as casually as possible.
"Really?" Pam asked. "Kelly talked me in to buying it online and I like it, but I don't know. I thought about returning it and just never got around to it."
"I'm glad you kept it. It looks good on you."
"Thanks," she said, looking down at her latte to take a nervous sip.
The rest of the night was just small talk, really just a way to catch up with each other after not speaking for all those months. There wasalot to catch up on. Pam told Jim about all the things that happened in Scranton while he was gone. Jim gave Pam the cliff notes version of the Stamford office and what everyone there was like.
"Did I hear Andy call you 'Big Tuna' today?" Pam asked him.
"Uh...yea, yea you did."
"What was that about?"
"Well, I decided I'm in Stamford, I made this change, so why not keep going? So I brought a tuna sandwich to work and Andy has called me Big Tuna ever since."
Pam had to laugh at that one. "I'm sorry, but I will never be able to bring myself to call you Big Tuna."
"Please don't be sorry for that," he said as he picked his coffee off the table.
There was an awkward silence that fell between them. All Jim wanted to do was ask Pam about the wedding and why she hadn't called. All Pam wanted to do was ask about Karen and explain why she hadn't called. But it had become this unwritten rule between them that they wouldn't take about that. It was just a night for them to try and at least get back to where they had been before things had changed so dramatically.
"Oh um, Dwight liked your gaydar," Pam said, breaking the silence.
"Really?"
"Ok, not really. It worked fine until his belt buckle set it off."
"No way!"
"It was hilarious! He got this 'deer in the headlights' kind of look on his face. It was so great." Her energetic voice dropped to nearly a whisper and she looked down at her hands. "I wish you would have been here to see that."
"Me too," Jim said sincerely
Pam looked down at her cup and Jim's. "You done with your coffee?"
"Yea. Ready to go?"
Pam nodded and grabbed their coats as Jim picked up their cups from the table and took them over to the trash can by the front door. He looked up and noticed a painting hanging on the wall that he hadn't seen when he came in. It was the sky line of downtown Scranton and for some reason, it struck him in an odd way. It wasn't a normal view of downtown, but it looked familiar to him as if he had once stood in the same spot that the painter had set up their canvas.
Then he realized he hadn't stood in that spot. He sat in it. With Pam. He looked at the label next to the painting.
Artist: Pam Beesly
Scranton Art School
Oil on canvas
"This is the Scranton sky line from the roof of my office building where I once shared some amazing grilled cheese sandwiches with a friend. After he moved away, I would go up there to paint as a way to remember that night and this view always reminds me of him."
Jim swallowed hard, trying to suppress the lump that had formed in his throat.
He turned around to see Pam standing behind him, holding their coats, a look of apprehension on her face. He smiled. "You didn't tell me you had a painting in here."
"Do you like it?" she asked.
Did he like it? There were so many words he wish he could think at that point to explain how beautiful it was, how beautiful she was, how he was so touched that she could said anything she wanted to about this painting and had said something about a night they had shared together. He wished he could say all that, but his mind was so blank, he couldn't find any words to articulate any of it.
"I really like it," he said, his voice breaking.
Pam smiled that warm smile he always loved, the one that was so big, it would even light up her eyes. "I'm glad," she said, handing him his coat.
They walked out to his car and he once again opened her door for her before getting in and starting the car.
"So I guess those art classes are paying off?" he asked her teasingly.
"So far, so good," she said.
"How were you able to get your painting in the coffee shop?"
As Jim put the car in drive, Pam started talking about how the shop had approached her art school and wanted to feature local artists. She talked about her professor actually pulling her aside after class to specifically request that painting to display. She said the professor told her he thought it was her best work. Jim smiled.
She finished her story just as he pulled into the parking lot of her apartment building. "Ok, Beesly, the ride ends here. I'm kicking you out!"
She smiled and he smiled back as a silence fell between them. Then she put her hand over his on the gear shift, leaned over, and gave him a kiss on his cheek. It was kind of awkward and not very smooth, but Jim didn't notice that at all.
She pulled away and gave him her sweet smile again. "I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked.
"Indeed you will," he said back.
"Alright, so I'll see you then," she said, fumbling with the handle of the door before finally getting it open.
"Night, Pam!" Jim called her.
"Night!" she called back as she closed the door.
Jim made sure she had made it into her building ok before he put the car in drive. He smiled, realizing his cheek still burned where she had kissed him.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Ok, I thought this was going to be a oneshot, but then I realized I had to add on.
I'm not claiming any of these characters as my own because they don't belong to me. They don't sleep in my house or pay half the rent or anything.
sharky is the author of 26 other stories.
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