Pam looked up from her desk for what had to be the one hundredth time in the last five minutes. She didn’t know why she kept looking up to check on Jim. He’d been doing the same thing for twenty minutes now; eating a Hershey bar and staring at his computer. He occasionally hit the mouse a few times, five times to be exact, and that’s when Pam knew she was taking a drastic step into stalking. Maybe she kept looking at him thinking the scenery would change. Like one time she would look up and Karen wouldn’t be sitting a few feet away from him.
When Karen got up and she saw her head into the bathroom, Pam got up quickly and headed to Jim’s desk.
“Hey.” She said coolly.
He turned in his chair and popped another Hershey piece into his mouth. “Hi. What’s up?”
“I was wondering if you wanted to…” she glanced at his mouth for a moment. Damn. How in the hell did he look so hot just by suckling on chocolate. Another thought popped into her head and her eyes went wide for a moment.
Jim must have seen it because he smiled. “Pam, I know I cause every woman I meet to become wide eyed but is there something you wanted?”
Maybe if she could focus on anything but his mouth she’d be ok in forming sentences, but it wasn’t likely. “Yeah, do you want to get some coffee after work?”
Jim looked like he was about to protest and she added quickly. “If you have nothing else and if it’s ok with Karen?” She was glad she put that in there, after all Karen seemed to be a mother figure lately.
He smiled and handed her a piece of chocolate and nodded. “Yeah, sure. I’m guessing you’re talking about The Coffee Bean?”
Pam nodded and avoided saying anything else by popping the chocolate in her mouth. She headed back to her desk and swirled her tongue around the sugary chocolate. She couldn’t help but wonder if Jim tasted just as sweet…and nearly fell off her chair by thinking so.
~*~*~
Jim couldn’t help but smile as he watched Pam return to her desk. He hoped he’d be able to go to get coffee with her and tried to remember if he had anything with Karen that’d interfere with doing so. He headed into the break room and was met with Karen coming out of the bathroom.
“Hey, do we have anything planned tonight?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. Why, what did you want to do?”
The chocolate in Jim’s mouth suddenly turned bitter and he swallowed thickly. “Um, actually Mark invited me for a game of cards. I was wondering if it’s ok if I go.”
Karen seemed wary for a moment but then nodded and kissed Jim on the cheek. “Sure, I’ll see you later then?”
Jim nodded not looking at her. He rubbed his hand over his face and touched his cheek where Karen had just left him a kiss. His skin felt like it was on fire and he wondered if she had left a scar on his face.
What the hell was he doing? If Karen found out he had been lying, let alone lying to go somewhere with Pam, they’d be done. But it wasn’t like he was going out with Pam, right? It was just a friendly cup of coffee and at worst sharing a piece of The Coffee Bean’s famous chocolate cake. There was no harm in that, right?
He watched as Karen sat down and looked up at him to give a smile. And at that exact same moment Pam popped her head up, and gave him the same toothy grin. His eyes darted between the two and finally he just smiled. But as he turned around he couldn’t bet on his life on who he was really smiling at.
~*~*~
Jim held open the door open for Pam as they entered The Coffee Bean. They got in line and Pam looked up at the board full of caffeinated beverages.
“What are you going to get?” Jim asked her.
Pam shrugged. “I don’t know yet, what about you?”
“Probably a Caramel Latte.” He suddenly cocked his head to the side to look at her. “And you always know what you’re getting here. You get the same thing every time.”
“I do not.” Pam said a little insulted. How in the hell did he know what she always got, or never got for that matter.
He sighed. “Regular coffee with one shot of espresso and two shots of vanilla.” He shrugged when he saw she was a bit miffed at his answer. “You never try anything new.”
Pam suddenly let out a sour laugh. “Right, I forgot about you Halpert. You always need to switch between things. Can’t stay with one thing for too long, might get boring.”
He looked taken back and for a moment she was afraid she went too far. “I’m going to get a table.”
Pam nodded as he left, maybe she had said too much.
~*~*~
Jim watched as Pam ordered the coffee and placed his coat over the back of his chair. He was surprised she had the nerve to say that much to him. But maybe over time that’s just what happens. You can hear only so much bullshit until you build a backbone to say something about it.
But he figured since she’d been with Roy she’d have four damn backbones by now. So why was she so afraid of making her own choices half the time?
She placed a coffee cup in front of him and placed her own jacket on the chair. She blew on her coffee and he took a sip of his own. “Careful, it’s hot.”
She blew on her own and gestured to the coaster surrounding the hot cup. “It says Caution: Hot Contents, Halpert. I think I can read.”
He kept wondering when her voice attained so much snark. Although she did smile after she said it so maybe they were back where they were supposed to be. That’s how it was always fixed between them. One smile or a bag of sour cream and onion chips was all it ever took to fix them. It was a relief really, since Karen’s idea of fixing things was late night talks and relationship seminars.
“Right…so…” And the awkwardness, where did that come from? “Christmas is almost here.”
She nodded and let out a little giggle. “Yeah, three months away Halpert.”
He smiled and wondered why she kept calling him by his last name. She never did it so much before. It was different then when he called her Beesely, but he couldn’t figure out why.
“Why did you want to start Christmas shopping? We could beat the three month rush.”
Great, she was mocking him now. He just raised his eyebrows and took a drink of his coffee. “We could buy Angela a heart and Dwight a clue.”
Pam laughed and it sounded anything but bitter. He missed making her laugh that way. He missed the way it lit him up inside when she did.
“What’s in the bag?” He asked, just realizing there was a small white bag next to her.
“Oh, chocolate coffee cake. I figured I’d take it home but if you want to share it…?”
He nodded and watched as she took it out of the bag and placed it on a napkin which had been underneath her coffee cup. She handed him a fork that was in the bag and he looked up at her confused.
“You don’t want a fork?”
“I can use my hands, its just cake.”
He lightly threw the fork at her and smiled as they both took a bit of it and popped it into their mouths.
“So what did you end up getting to drink?” he asked hoping not to bring up the same fight all over again.
She scrunched her nose and Jim smiled. “I think it was coffee with a shot of espresso. But I put a caramel and cinnamon shot in there too.”
He raised one of his eyebrows. “Very daring Beesley.”
She shrugged and admitted in a small voice, “Change isn’t always bad, right? Do you want to taste it?”
He gave a small nod and she pushed her cup towards him. As he took a sip, he hardly recognized the cinnamon or the caramel filling his mouth. All he could taste was Pam’s lip-gloss on the rim of the cup. It had a sickly watermelon taste to it and it felt like it was lighting his lips on fire. He tried to remember what it had been like when he had kissed her that Casino night. Had it been the same fiery experience? He was pretty sure that he couldn’t forget something that felt that way.
“What do you think?” she asked.
“It’s ok, for something new. Taste mine.” He pushed her cup back and gave her his. Like she didn’t know what the hell coffee or caramel tasted like. Honestly, he just wanted her watermelon flavored lips on his cup. That way when he drank from his cup he’d taste her again. It was almost like kissing really, seeing as how it’d be the closest he’d ever get again.
~*~*~
Pam took his cup from him and took a hearty sip. It was really sweet and filled with caramel foam. Although beyond all that, her taste buds could sense something else, and she could have sworn it was chocolate. Maybe that’s what his lips really tasted like and she just never noticed it before. After all, she’d only kissed his lips once and it had been too long ago.
“Well?” he asked.
She drew her lips into her mouth for a moment and tasted the last of it. “It’s good. Kind of tastes like chocolate.”
He gave her a typical Jim face and smirked. “Odd, since there’s only caramel in the cup. Maybe it’s from the cake.”
She nodded but didn’t believe one word of it. She wanted to believe he really did taste that way since she’d never get that chance again.
“I think mine’s better.” She smiled taking a bit more of the cake.
“Really? Well I think you’re a mess.”
She looked at him confused until Jim got up and went to her side of the table. He slowly took his finger and wiped right under her chin where chocolate icing had apparently been.
She smiled and maroon began filling her cheeks. “Thanks.” She barely squeaked out.
And before she knew what she was doing she left a small kiss on his lips. Jim backed up slowly as he began to kiss her back.
“I’m-I’m sorry.” She said and grabbed her coat.
She left before she could hear him say it was ok. And wadda ya know, Jim did taste like chocolate.
Author's Chapter Notes:
ok heres 6. and please comment whether you love it or are criticing it! i base my writing on what you say!! thanks for reading :D
Chapter End Notes:
thanks for reading!
