I kind of thought something would happen tonight, too.

Ryan really did look good in his kurta, and they way he met her eyes when she said it made her feel like Kelly wasn’t right there, her hands still resting on Ryan’s chest.

To be honest, Pam knew that she didn’t want to go to the Diwali celebration not because she didn’t have a date but because she didn’t want to watch Ryan with Kelly all night, Kelly fawning over him, Ryan chatting to her parents.  It made Pam feel a little bit sick to her stomach.  But by the time Pam got back to her apartment, she was starting to feel less resigned and more bitter, even a little bit angry, and definitely disappointed in herself.  After all, Ryan was in a relationship with Kelly, and Pam didn’t expect him to just dump his girlfriend and start anew with the girl he had slept with once.  So she took another shower and re-did her hair, changed into some jeans and a sweater, and drove to the banquet hall.

Just because Ryan was dating Kelly didn’t mean Pam couldn’t try to make him jealous.  When she actually started having fun, she was almost surprised.

She tried to tell herself it wasn’t because she could see that Kelly’s family didn’t like Ryan and that Ryan was definitely not enjoying himself.  It almost worked, too.  But Ryan still spent the whole party by Kelly’s side, so Pam, when confronted with a situation too good to let pass, text messaged Jim.  She thought he of all people should know about the situation, and there was no reason not to be civil, even friendly again, with each other.

When she sat down on the steps next to Michael, though, she knew that she was talking about Ryan even if she was supposed to be talking about Jim.

At around midnight, Pam’s phone buzzed on coffee table.  She assumed it would be a reply from Jim, but instead it was from an unknown number in the Scranton area code.  All it said was “Busy?”  Something about it made her feel warm all over, and she could feel a blush on her face when she texted back “No,” and saved his number to her phonebook.

He was at her door in fifteen minutes.