Michael decides to take his sales dream team on a little trip and pulls Pam along for the ride. Spoilers through Cocktails.So I know this was written agessss ago. But it's such a different fic that I just need to vent, even if you probably won't read this.
I like Jim in this. I think you've portrayed him fairly spot-on, in a broody, angsty way. One of the things I think everyone loves about Jim is that he's always just been so in love with Pam. Even when he was with Karen, even when he was in Stamford, even when she shut him down, he loved her. And I like that you've portrayed that in this.
Pam in this is... too much I think. I appreciate what you're trying to do with her but i just don't see it. I mean, this was prior even to the fancy new beesly we have now. She was still wearing her hair up (ultimate symbolism), she hadn't had her coal walk, she hadn't done, or been through any of the things that make her the stronger character we see in the series now. The thought of her jumping into a relationship with Ryan, at this point in the series, seems just off. At first, I thought she was just using him to bait Jim, which I can imagine a bit, but yeah, not to this extent.
And Ryan. I like that you justified his douchieness. I'd probably be a bitch if i had to work with michael scott too. And in S1-3 he was half way normal. It took my brain a while to work its way around the dynamic they have now in the series - where Ryan and Pam seem to hate each other - to where you're portraying them to be. But yeah, all I could think about when I was reading this at the start, was Ryan's continuous rejection of Pam when Jim left. Like Pam's smiles at him in the conference room and him being like "what". I don't know. It just didn't sit right.
But honestly, it was fantastically well written. I'm a die hard JAM fan, so I was never going to fall in love with this. So you did pretty well in trying to convince a lost cause.
The first time she does it, it’s simply to answer a question: how quickly can she pack the essentials and make it out to the car? She doesn’t know exactly why she wonders; something, surely, related to a friend having to pack an overnight bag during a pregnancy or an episode of Oprah or something.I really enjoyed this. Really Really. It actually made me believe Pam would go back to him, which I think is a concept which is done too poorly too often. Thank you :)
Author's Response: Wow, thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it :-)
53 I'm new(ish) to the whole Office fandom, and have been casually making my way through a ton of fics over the last couple of months. This is the first one that I've stumbled upon that's a WIP that's actually being updated. And I didn't even realise until I got to the end of chapter 11 and there was no more next button. I nearly cried! I want more!
this is fabulous, honestly. I've been bothered by the way a lot of fics don't really deal with Karen... or deal with her by making her a total bitch. I like that you haven't done that, yet you haven't put the breaks on Jim and Pam either. It makes sense that Jim would have some conflicting feelings and guilt after what happened in New York, and not enough fics deal with that.
So yay for you! Plus your pre-smut was way way hotter than the majority of actual smut out there.
Author's Response: Hi, Drodrey! Thanks so much for reviewing! It really means so much to me. I'm so happy you like this story. I started reading fanfic about a year ago and as much I enjoyed the stories I read some of them just didn't ring true to the characters I knew and loved. They were either too simplified, too black-and-white or too idealized. I really wanted to write my own "First Date Story" and try to capture the complex, human-qualities of the characters. I'm so glad that you're enjoying this and I hope you'll continue to tell me your thoughts on upcoming chapters.