…fuck?

Jim had a befuddled look on his face as he watched the beefy warehouse worker with a huge grin on his face make his way through the crowd of patrons.

Jim had seen him a few times at Poor Richards -- okay, a lot of times -- and the one constant during each occasion was the fact that Roy was usually completely and incoherently drunk. Come to think of it, he had never seen Roy not drunk.

And, of course, this time was no different. If he really thought about it, loading paper onto a truck probably didn’t take as many brain cells as selling that paper. One could, potentially, be drunk the entire time. He wouldn’t put it past him.

“Pammy! I never thought I‘d see you here!” Roy bellowed, arms spread out in front of him in a welcoming gesture as he approached the cute secretary.

From the spot where Jim was rooted to the ground, it didn’t look like Roy had any plans to halt his advancement. As he got within arm’s length of her, he reached out and grabbed Pam’s elbow with his free hand, causing Jim to momentarily start forward.

But as soon as be began to move, he stopped. The look on Pam’s face was hardly one of terror. In fact, Jim swore he saw the hint of a smile play across her lips. Nothing major; just a tiny smirk, like she was in on this, whatever it was.

And then it happened.

As Pam Beesley turned around to look up and acknowledge the beefy paper loader, Roy Anderson did the one thing Jim Halpert had been absolutely dying to do since he first saw that radiant smile in the break room.

He leaned in and kissed her.

And when Pam reciprocated by bringing her hands up to Roy’s chest, the force of that action sent Jim, literally, reeling back to his chair. If it wasn’t so damn depressing, it might’ve been funny.

“I thought this only happens to people on television,” Jim said to Mark as he motioned his head in the direction of the couple.

“Hmmm…are you sure we’re not?” Mark looked around the bar suspiciously as he took another sip of his beer.

“Very funny.” Jim sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s just…I thought I had it figured out. I mean, the signs were there. I was so sure of her; of this.”

“She‘s engaged,” said Kevin. He had been sitting silently next to Jim and Mark the whole time, staring at the blonde at the bar while he nursed a pitcher of beer.

Jim raised his eyebrows and looked at Kevin.

“Really, Kev?” So random. “How can you tell?”

Kevin rolled his eyes. “No, not her.” He looked at Pam and Roy. “Pam. Pam is engaged.”

“What?”

“You never noticed her ring? He looked back at the blonde sitting at the bar. “Roy’s only been bragging about it for the past five weeks. I went down to the warehouse at lunch last week to play cards and he would not stop talking about it.”

Kevin let forth a tiny giggle before finishing his sentence: “But I can see why you wouldn’t have noticed it; the diamond is tiny because he lost all his money to me playing “One-Eyed Jack, King With The Ax.”

Jim was positive he had never seen a ring on her finger. But as he looked closely at her left hand while she listened to Roy, there was an unmistakable sparkle. It was hard to see, but a sparkle nonetheless. The fact that she was practically married was momentarily put on the back burner as he tuned into their conversation.

“Oh, come on, Pam. Just a few more games. Darryl and I are in the middle of a best-of-seven series and the loser has to take the winner to lunch on Monday,” Roy said. “Besides, this will give you a chance to hang out with your new co-workers.”

Pam looked defeated. She looked down at the ground and let out an exasperated sigh that was lost on Roy.

“Fine.”

“Aw, you’re the best, Pammy!” Roy bent down and kissed her on the cheek. “Listen - I’m really glad you came out tonight. I hate to think about you alone in our apartment practicing your art. I’d rather be with you at the bar, so I know you’re okay.” As he picked his head up, he winked at her and made his way back towards the dartboards where Darryl was waiting with a full bucket of beer.

As Jim watched Roy retreat to the back of the bar, he couldn’t help but be amazed that that lug nut was dating the woman of his dreams. Well, the woman who had been the woman of his dreams up until 15 minutes ago. He was about to begin wallowing in his own self-pity when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and was greeted with a sight he could definitely get used to.Pam.

“Is this seat taken?”

“Hey!” His mouth broke into the stupidest of grins as he stood up. “Nope. This seat is all yours,” he said as he pulled it out for her. He looked at her as he performed his gentlemanly duty. “I didn’t expect to see you here tonight.”

“Yeah, well, my fiancé might need a ride home,” she said as she brought her beer up to her lips. “And you said you would be here, so I didn’t think it would be that bad." She gave him a playful smile as she took a drink. “Besides, it would be the perfect opportunity to brainstorm some ideas for pulling a prank on Dwight.” She gave him a confused look. “He’s so weird.”

“I like the way you think, Beesley. Tell me: Have you ever considered putting his personal effects in Jell-O?”

And there it was again; that radiant smile.

For a quick second, his facial expression fell as he came to a final conclusion: He was in love.

Maybe it hadn’t happened at first sight, but it had been there the whole time. And for the first time in his young life, he was sure of one thing: He wouldn’t be able to live without this one woman.

His one woman.

Pam.