“Hello?” Jim’s voice was scratchier than expected. Pam didn’t even know why she called. She had heard him calling when she was driving. She wasn’t going to answer. When she left, she told herself that – let this weekend be about relaxing, not about Jim. That kiss was to get it out of her system, and then she could just forget him. She didn’t want to think about him at all. But then he called and left that message. Honestly, she didn’t even know what to say when she heard that. It was a slap in the face. She had just turned her phone off then, deciding to stick to her original plan.

            After she arrived at her mom’s, she had a relaxing evening, just as she expected. Her mom had held dinner, and then they had watched a movie and stayed up talking. It wasn’t until eleven that she even remembered Jim and his message. She found her phone and turned it on – one new message. After listening to both, she didn’t know what to think.

            She sat in her old room, as if her past would help her. She looked with new eyes over all her old possessions. There was the photograph of her and Ms. Roman on graduation day – Ms. Roman was her art teacher, and was more of a friend than a teacher to Pam. There were trophies from the one or two years she had played soccer. There was her old bookshelf, littered with books such as Little Women and Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret? Last summer, she had removed most of the pictures with Roy, leaving bare spots on her walls and dressers. Somehow, these bare spots were what gave her the courage to call.

            It wasn’t until he answered that she remembered what time it was. “Oh, crap. Sorry, it’s late. Did I wake you? I mean, I’ll just call back – ”

            “No. I was awake. I’m glad you called,” his voice back to normal.

            “Sorry.” They both said at the same time.

            “Jinx,” Pam said weakly. “Kind of hard for you to buy me a coke though. So… I guess not.”

            “Good. ‘Cause a… it would be hard doing this without talking.”

            “Yeah.”

            They both pause, neither sure what to say. Finally Jim speaks up. “So, how’s you mom?”

            “Good. Good. Yeah, we watched Pan's Labyrinth.”

            “Oh, is it good?”

            “Yeah.”

            The conversation dies again, neither of them wanting to start on the real reason they called. Jim took the lead again. “So… you kissed me?” It came out more as a question than a statement.

            “Yeah, sorry about that. Just…” Pam couldn’t get any coherent thoughts together, and finally, the words just tumbled out of her, unable to stop. “I couldn’t stand it. We were finally friends, but there was Karen. And that’s fine. But, I hated seeing you together. I hated it, because I kept thinking it should be me. It should be me who got to hold you hand and steal kisses at work. It should be us going out to dinner. God, I was even jealous last month when you went out on a sales call together. It shouldn’t be her. It should be me. I mean, seriously Jim, you didn’t give me a chance. You came back with her. It took us nearly a year to regain our friendship. A year!” Pam didn’t know how she had said so much. “So much for ignoring Jim”, she thought.

            “Didn’t give you a chance? Pam, I waited for your call… I waited for any sign that you had feelings for me! Anything! I left because I couldn’t stand to see you every day. And then, you call off the wedding and don’t let me know. I find out from Kevin. From Kevin. He emailed letting me know I could ‘hit that.’” Jim felt his blood boiling. “And then everything is finally normal again. I was happy with Karen! We were going to go to the Poconos this weekend. Yeah, that’s what couples do, or don’t you remember all your fun trips with Roy?”

            “Was?” Pam’s voice was strong. “You were happy with Karen?”

            “Am!” Jim shouted. “I am! I don’t know. You kiss me like that, and then leave! What was I supposed to do?”

            “What was I supposed to do Jim? You kissed me like that, and then never gave me any time to deal with it. When it looked like it wasn’t going your way, you just left.”

            “You said you were still going to marry him!”

            “So, I don’t make decisions in two seconds – sorry!”
            “It sure seemed like you made your decision!”

            “Ten years! You except one night to change ten years?”

            “Pam, it wasn’t just one night for me, it was four years. Four years of loving you. Four years of watching him ruin your life.”

            “Oh, if it was so obvious he was ruining my life, why didn’t you say anything earlier? We were happy together. Okay, fine, we weren’t perfect, but he wasn’t ruining everything. You ruined everything. If it wasn’t for you, we would be happy and – ”

            “And what Pam? Because you know what? You still kissed me then and you kissed me now. And this time, you left. You didn’t even give me time to speak! What the hell was I supposed to do?”

            “Stop me,” Pam’s voice broke, tears spilled down her cheeks. She quickly hung up the phone, unwilling to deal with Jim’s response. Pam’s mom knocked at her door, hearing the screaming from down the hall. She sat down with Pam, and tried to comfort her daughter.

            Jim threw the phone in disgust against the wall. It’s only then that he notices a figure in the door. Karen. “I came to see how you were feeling,” she whispered.