.
Jim walked into Dunder Hall. This was his third year moving into this place. Each year he was less excited about returning to live here. This year more so. He had gotten used to Pam sitting behind that desk and now there sat Phyllis. There would be no Pam until the beginning of next year behind that desk.
“Hey Phyllis. How was your summer?”
“Oh, it was great!”
Jim had never seen Phyllis in such a good mood. He was sure that her face had never had a smile on it for that long. He was annoyed that she was so happy. He grabbed his key for his room and headed up. He was on the second floor this year. No Dwight this year.
When he came down to Stanley’s office Michael was sitting behind the desk. He was hoping that he hadn’t missed something, like Stanley quitting and Michael taking over. He couldn’t handle that right now.
“Where’s Stanley at?” He sat down across from Michael.
“He went to the bathroom. I’m just holding down the fort until he gets back.”
Ryan walked in and was also not expecting to see Michael.
“Didn’t you graduate?”
“Sore subject.” Jim smirked.
“I’m a super senior!” Michael seemed almost proud that he could now put the word super before senior.
“Most people just call it a 5th year senior.” Jim explained.
“Don’t be jealous that I’m living the good life for another year.”
Dwight walked in, he looked different. “Hey Dwight, are those new glasses?”
“No.”
“Those are clearly new glasses.” Ryan chimed in.
“Nobody asked you newbie.”
Everyone else came in and took a seat and waited for Stanley. Katy sat next to Jim and her leg was touching his. He moved it away and scooted over. Andy walked in last with nowhere left to sit.
“Hey Kitty Kat, scooch a cheek.”
Katy tried to move closer to Jim and Andy stopped to her. “I meant the other way. I need to catch up with my bro-ham.”
She made room for Andy and was now squished against Ryan. Ryan smiled and raised an eyebrow at her, she disregarded it.
Stanley eventually came back in and they began their meeting after a small talk from Stanley to Michael about sitting behind his desk. Jim didn’t really listen to the rest of the meeting. He was too busy thinking about what Pam was doing. He walked back to his room and began working on his door tags for his new residents. He saw Karen walking towards his room.
“Hey Halpert.” She stopped in the doorway. “Can you only do your side of the floor? I was going to do my own name tags. I like them all to be laminated.”
“Yep, sounds good.”
“Also, I was thinking that we should start planning our first floor meeting soon.”
He got up from the floor and checked his email. He had been checking his email every few hours waiting to hear back from Pam. He hadn’t talked to her since that night she called telling him she wanted to leave. If he knew it would have been a week until he could hear from her again he would have stayed on the phone with her longer.
He clicked on his in box and finally there was an email.
Hi. Sorry I haven’t gotten back to you sooner. My computer still won’t get on the internet. My roommate let me use her computer. Things are much better now. No more losing it because I get lost. I’ve gotten used to wandering around until I find the apartment. I started classes today. My Italian class was intense. The rest of the day was pretty cool though. At the end of the week we get to go around the city and see all of the things we talked about in class. That’s really all for now. I’ll write you more when I get my computer up and running. I miss you like Dwight misses episodes of the X-Files!
Pam
He read the email a few times. He could almost hear her saying the words. This was going to be a long four months.
A couple days later Pam was in front of the Trevi Fountain. She was trying to find a place in the crowd where she could sit and sketch. She decided that she would sketch one place a week until the end of her trip. She started here because it was the closest place to her apartment. She sat there for a few hours just trying to capture every detail, but it was impossible.
Her stomach growled and she figured it was time to go. She gathered her things and placed them in her bag. She walked a few blocks to the market. A week after her excursion to the grocery store she found a market a few blocks away. It was cheaper and the food was fresher. The only downside was that she had to speak more Italian, but she needed the practice anyways.
When she got back to the apartment Dawn was studying at the table.
“I had the neighbor look at your computer while you were out. He fixed it.”
“That is seriously the best news I’ve gotten all week.” She put her bag down next to the door. “I should go thank him.”
“Oh, nope, that’s alright. I told him it was my computer.”
Pam laughed. “Why’d do that?”
“Because he was cute, and I didn’t have any other reason for him to come over. We’re going on a date on Friday.”
“Well make sure to really thank him for me.”
“That was my intention all along.”
Pam walked into her room to see her computer. She booted it up and signed on to her email. Three new emails from Jim.
She clicked on the oldest one first.
More than the X-Files? That's kind of scary that you know that he likes the X-Files that much. I'm glad you're enjoying your classes. I knew you would. Get that computer fixed already. I'm dying over here without daily updates.
Jim
Then she clicked on the second one.
I write bearing lots of news. We’ll go with the big stuff first. You were right about Jan and Michael. I passed her in the stairwell yesterday. She was walking back down from Michael’s floor. She had her shirt on inside out! It was a classic moment.
Next, Dwight has gotten some weird makeover. He’s dressing differently and his hair is less Dwight and more normal person. He also got new glasses. I feel like I’m in an episode of the Twilight Zone, except it’s the Dwilight Zone.
This is a big shocker, but Andy told me that he’s dating Angela! So I guess you were wrong about that one. I found out that Phyllis is engaged to her boyfriend from last year. She has been in a remarkably good mood. You’re really missing out (that was a joke, do not hop on a plane, you're not really missing anything).
Some other small things. I don’t know if you’ve talked to Kelly recently, but Ryan and Kelly are broken up at the moment, so he’s literally hitting on anything with a vagina. Karen is my co-RA this year. I didn’t realize that she was kind of neurotic about so many things. She stops by every few hours to make sure I’m getting my stuff done. She’s definitely 10 times better than Dwight though.
I’m sure there is so many more things that I missed, but that’s all I can think of right now.
Jim
She clicked on the third one.
I forgot to say I miss you too. So... I miss you too.
King James III
She wrote him back and she read a few more emails. There was one from Kelly. It was four pages long without any breaks explaining in great detail her breakup with Ryan. She even had exact quotes or exact Kelly quotes. Kelly often heard what she wanted to hear. She always managed to tweak what you said to sound closer to what she wanted to hear.
She made some dinner later with Dawn. It was kind of early, but it was dark out and she was tired. She was deep in sleep when she heard a loud bang come from outside. She got up and peaked out the window. There was a car parked out front. A woman was yelling at a man. The car lights were still on and one of the doors was still open. The woman was rushing to the door and the man was following her. She would turn around to yell at him every few steps. She got to the door and fumbled with her key. The man was right behind her. Pam couldn’t hear what the man was saying anymore. His voice was softer now. The woman yelled one more time before her voice softened too as the man placed a hand on her chin and lifted it to meet his mouth.
Pam turned away from the window now feeling like a peeping Tom. She walked back to her bed and threw herself onto the mattress. She wanted someone to kiss her like that. She had someone that kissed her like that, but he was 4,400 miles away. She closed her eyes and for a second she could feel his lips on hers.
.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Jim and Pam exchange a few emails.
Chapter End Notes:
Next chapter Jim gets to the bottom of Dwight's makeover.
