“So, how’ve you been?” Karen asks while slowly unwrapping her candy bar. “I see that you were yuckin’ it up with Pam earlier,” She says quickly before she settles in next to him in the break room.
He takes a bite of his apple and chews thoughtfully for a moment before responding, “Yep, we were making plans for tonight.”
“Oh,” she responds quietly trying to hide the hurt on her face.
He groans internally, and quickly covers her free hand with his. “Look, you told me you wanted me to get her out of my system…This is me getting her out of my system.”
She looks confused for a moment then almost angry as she snatches her hand back, “Wait…Wait a minute, are you literally ‘going to get it out of your system’” she retorts back her fingers gesturing wildly.
“We’re just going to,” He’s too much of a gentleman to actually say what they’re planning on doing so he leaves a pause pregnant with meaning, “Spend some time together in order to realize that the other person isn’t as perfect as we’ve been making them out to be in our heads. That way we can finally, finally move on with people we’re maybe better suited for.” He squeezes her hand at the end of this statement reassuringly.
She still looks unconvinced but doesn’t pull her hand back immediately, “Or, you could realize that she’s amazing and that she’s the one you’ve wanted to be with all along.”
“No way,” he says with a derisive laugh, “I mean come on, she’s just a normal girl. I can see that objectively now. For the longest time it was just me and her versus the nut house and I think I developed this fixation on her based on that fact. It’s not real.” He says as he looks at Karen meaningfully, “It’s not.”
“But what if it,” she replies pressing his hand, “I really want this to work between us.”
“I do too,” he responds before taking a swig of his water, “Look, she’s just a normal girl that I need to get out of my system; besides, there is no way she can be a little hellcat like you,” which earns him a little smile from Karen as she leans into him a little, “But more importantly, there is no fucking way she can possibly measure up to the Pam of my dreams. I mean I’ve built her up so much in my head that the real thing is bound to be monumentally and unbelievably disappointing- for both of us I’m sure.”
He sounds so confident that Karen can almost see the logic in his harebrained plan. “Well,” she says her tone wholly resigned, “It definitely wasn’t working with us before, so I guess even this is worth a shot,” She smiles up at him, “I just don’t’ want to lose you.”
“Look Karen, You’re probably the best thing that’s ever happened to me, I mean you’re beautiful and brilliant and you actually want to be with me. I would be a fool to let you slip away.”
“Some might say you’d also be a fool to sleep with the former love of your life in order to get over her.”
“Yeah,” he says his enthusiasm waning just a little as he takes another bite of his apple, “They might.”
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Pam leans her head against the door of the women’s bathroom as she listens to their conversation and sighs to herself. She’s tempted to bang her head against the door but that would only lead them to realize that she is eavesdropping and/or potentially give her a concussion and since she has no desire to throw up on her car and be driven to the hospital in Meredith’s van that isn’t really an option. Instead she just sighs and wonders how long it will be before they left the break room and she can have a chance to sneak out of there with what is left of her dignity.
