Pam excitedly got ready for the evening. She refreshed her makeup (and then washed it all off, because it seemed to0 fake), brushed her hair out, and started dinner. It was just pasta, but Pam hoped that it was the balance between casual and romantic she was hoping for.

            After the water started boiling, Pam tried to clean up her apartment. She had paints, charcoals, and drawings all over the place. She quickly gathered all the drawings of Jim and put them in a drawer. As much as she wanted to tell Jim, she didn’t want to come off as a scary stalker or something. She ran upstairs and hid the collage under her bed. Not so creepy anymore, she thought, as she surveyed the organized mess that was her apartment. When she lived with Roy, she kept their apartment very clean and organized. Now that she lived on her own, she could keep it how she liked, no keeping up appearances. This apartment was her.

            Jim watched as Pam quickly left the office right at five. He was glad he wasn’t the only one who was excited about that night.

            He went back to his place, wondering if he should bring anything. Wine? His camera? Some photos he has taken? He settled on just the wine. Tonight was about seeing Pam and how Pam worked. Besides, if they split it up, it could mean two nights of seeing Pam.

            Jim arrived at Pam’s house a few minutes before 6:30. He wiped his palms on his jeans, and walked up to her door. Before he even rang the doorbell, Pam opened it.

            “Hey. I heard the car door…” Pam realized she sounded a bit too eager, and let the sentence die.

            “Yeah, cool. Um, I brought some wine,” Jim held out the bottle.

            “Great! You wanna come in?” Pam took the bottle and moved aside so Jim could come in.

            Jim walked in, and looked around. “So, I guess this is where you work?”

            “Yeah, it’s kind of messy, I know, but I guess I like having everything out.”

            “Nah, I mean, its cool. That way you can see everything. Organized mess.”

            Pam smiled. He thinks the same way I do. “Exactly. So, I guess, yeah, I mean, I normally just sit at the table,” she says, hanging him a glass of wine, “and draw, paint, whatever. Right now I’m working on a project for another class.” She shows him the drawing of the leaf without lines, “Its harder than it looks. We aren’t allowed to use lines, just shading and stuff like that.”

            “Wow, I don’t think I would even know where to start.”

            “Yeah, I spent like an hour trying to start, but once you get it, it just flows.”

            “Awesome. Wow, you did all these?” Jim starts flipping through the papers that were laying on the table.

            “Yeah,” Pam’s cheek’s flush.

            “These are awesome, Beesly. You’ve got talent. I mean, I’ve always known that, but, seriously.”

            “Thanks,” Pam’s smile lights up her face. “Um, so, dinner will be ready in like 30 minutes, so I guess we can do stuff until then.”

            “Lead the way.”

            Pam nervously explains how she normally works. “Well, normally I just, sit here and work. Nothing really exciting I guess. I mean, the light is really good here, and it’s comfortable.”

            Pam shows Jim all of her supplies, explaining the purpose of each of them, and how she uses them.

            Soon, the over timer dings, and they break for dinner.

            “It’s just pasta. Hope that’s okay.”

            “Well, I mean, it’s probably not as good as my grilled cheese, but I guess it will have to do.”

            After they sat down to eat, Pam asked, “So, tell me about how you work. More importantly, when did this start?”

            “Well, only a few weeks ago. I saw a camera and it stuck in my mind, so, I bought it.”

            “And, um, didn’t tell Karen?” Pam didn’t know why she was bring it up, but felt she needed to know.

            Jim sighed, “Yeah, probably not the best thing to do. I just felt it was private.”

            “Oh.” Pam looked away, embarrassed. I wonder if I should even ask anymore. Private explains a lot.

            “Don’t worry, I don’t mind sharing with you. It’s… special.” Jim tried to find the right word to describe how it felt. “Anyways, yeah, it was just that. I bought the camera, started taking classes, and that’s how I got here.”

            “Awesome. I mean, art just sort of finds you, I guess.”

            “Yep.”

            The rest of dinner is light conversation interspersed throughout the eating. After Jim left, he couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face.