So compromising turned out to be a little harder than we'd originally planned. The idea was to move in together and then get engaged, but Pam fell in love with this hundred-year-old house and it took us ages to remodel it. I wasn't crazy about waiting so long to be together, but as Pam pointed out it wouldn't make that much difference in the long run. And in the meantime we got to enjoy just being together like I'd always dreamed about, and grape soda was definitely a part of that.

Her eyes were lit up all mischievously, and Jim was surprised that she'd still have the energy to tease him after such a long day. But this was Pam, so as he thought about it longer, he wasn't that surprised. They'd spent almost the whole day prepping this place to paint and boxing up all the non-essential things in her apartment. They wouldn't be moving the boxes here until next weekend, though, because there were still a few last-minute changes that needed to be made. Like the paint, the carpet, and oh yeah, the fact that the downstairs toilet was still out of commission.

Sometimes it seemed like they would never be done. Thinking about it was giving him a headache, though, and to his dismay Pam still had that gleam in her eyes. Not that he didn't like that look, he was just exhausted.

"No. Whatever it is, no, no, and no," he said. He leaned back in one of the folding chairs they'd placed in what would become their dining room and took another sip of grape soda.

"What?" she laughed.

"You know what! Don't do it, Beesly."

"Do what, Jim?"

"You can't play innocent with me. I know that look--you're up to something."

"I'm not giving you a look Jim. And I am not ‘up to' anything."

"Oh yeah?" He said, standing suddenly to take their plates to the garbage can in the kitchen. Paper dishes weren't his favorite, but they did the job when everything else was in a box somewhere.

"Jim, please. Why would I do something to you?" she asked, standing up next to him and grabbing his soda can. "I love you."

"Nice. You're just trying to distract me."

"Come on, Jim. If I really wanted to distract you I'd do this," Pam said, leaning in to brush her lips on his, then moving forward to run the fingernails of her free hand up his left arm. She kept kissing him as he transferred the plates in his hand to the chair next to him. Suddenly he wondered if that mischievous look had meant something entirely different from what he'd originally thought.

His hands were eagerly running through her hair, and he loved the way the tip of her tongue was sliding along his bottom lip. Then suddenly he felt something cold running down his back. His eyes snapped open and all he could see was Pam's triumphant look and an upside down can of grape soda.

"Oh, you are so going to pay for that."

"Yeah? Bring it." And with that Pam was gone, through the doorway to the kitchen and halfway to the fridge. By the time Jim caught up to her she had two more cans of grape soda and was shaking them as she ran toward the family room.

"Are you crazy? That stuff's gonna stain everything."

"Like what? The carpet we're replacing tomorrow, or the walls we're painting next week?" She grinned widely at him. And all he could do was grin back. Sometimes it still amazed him that they were here like this, together.

"Okay then, but don't come crying to me when you're covered in soda."

"Same to you," she said, raising her eyebrows at him.

They spent the next few minutes chasing each other around the house, until Pam ran into their bedroom, still aiming a fizzing can behind her.

"No. Stop! Not near the new mattress!" Pam shouted.

"That is totally not fair. You can still get me from over there and I'm not allowed to get you back."

"Hey, I don't make the rules I just play against them." She smirked.

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't know. Michael said it first."

"You're quoting Michael now?" Jim said, giving her an incredulous look. "What's next, ‘that's what she said'?"

"Please, Halpert. Like I would ever stoop that low."

"Well, you never know."

Twenty minutes later they were back in the dining room, sitting on the floor, both a little worn out. Pam had run out of soda first and had resorted to tackling him to try to get the last can out of his hands. They were extremely sticky and covered in purple, but Jim didn't care. This was exactly the sort of thing he'd always imagined doing with Pam.

"Hey, I have to make a confession," he said, quietly.

"What? That you're madly in love with me? Because, I think I might have heard that one before."

Jim gave her a look that he thought would probably have been a lot more chastising if didn't have little purple dots dripping off the end of his chin.

"No," he said, still sounding serious. "I just thought you should know that I never really liked grape soda in the first place."

"What? No way!"

"Sorry, it's true."

"You little liar!" Pam exclaimed, moving over like she was thinking of tackling him again. "What else have you been keeping from me? Wait, don't tell me. You hate ham and cheese, too, don't you?"

"Nope. Ham and cheese is good. And actually I don't mind grape soda, it's just..." he paused as he leaned down and back until he was lying on the floor next to her, looking up at her face.

"What?" she asked.

"I guess what I really liked the whole time was you." She smiled down into his eyes.

"Well, in that case, I think I might have really liked you, too." she whispered, leaning down to kiss him lightly.

"Really?" he murmured against her lips.

"Yeah, really." she said, sliding down next to him to deepen their kiss.

Okay, okay, I'm sure you're not interested in all that mushy stuff, so I guess I'll just wrap this up. Not that this is the last time we ever drank grape soda or anything. I had some last week, actually. But I think that by now you've probably gotten the picture. Grape soda is just sort of our thing. Anytime I buy it she just knows that it's because I'm remembering something, and when she buys it, I know the same thing. So even though I might not have liked it all that much initially, at this point I am perfectly happy about the thought that, if everything goes as planned, Pam and I will be drinking grape soda together for a very long time.