Jim was walking through the hallway next to Dwight. Dwight was silent as they passed a few loud rooms. Normally Dwight would have been all over those rooms. He would have showed those kids no mercy. But he walked right by, without a second thought.
“Using that selective hearing?”
“Huh, what?”
“What happened to you this summer? Did Mose plow the wrong field again?”
“No, but thank you for asking.”
When he first saw Dwight walk into Stanley’s office he thought it was a joke, but later when he saw that his change wasn’t just skin deep he thought it must be a joke. But weeks went by and he never did all of the quirky things that he used to do. He wasn’t sure why, but he was worried about Dwight. Dwight was finally acting like everyone else. Jim had been wishing for this since the first day he met him. And now that Dwight was being normal it just wasn’t right. There had to be something that he could bait him with to pull out the real Dwight.
“I heard that the Sci-Fi Channel canceled Battlestar Galatica.” Still no response. “Dr Gaius... dead. I heard that he gets decapitated by a low hanging phone cord.” Jim had spent more hours watching Dwight watch Battlestar Galatica his freshman year than he had spent in class. “Then the spaceship blows up.”
“Warship,” Dwight corrected and ignored all of the other comments Jim had made.
Jim smirked. He was still in there and only God knew why Jim would want to bring him back out. He pressed him for more information. “What did you do this summer?”
“Nothing,” He said flatly.
Who was this guy that he was walking down the hallway with. Normally Dwight would wonder why Jim was being so inquisitive. He would think it was a setup for a prank. They reached the last floor and he saw Dwight’s mood change as they passed Angela’s room. He plastered on a fake smile and waved at Angela.
Jim caught his change in demeanor. “Did you hear about Andy and Angela?”
“Yes.” Dwight’s body stiffened a bit.
“Weird, right?”
“They’re both adults and they can do whatever they want.”
“They just don’t seem like each other’s type.”
“I think she could do better, but if Andy is who she chooses then there must be something about him that piques her interests.”
‘Interesting,’ Jim thought.
They finished their round of the building at the office. Jim checked the time. “See you down here in 2 hours for the next one?”
“Can we make it 3? I have a few things to do.”
“Yep.” Jim wondered what normal Dwight would do with that extra hour. Dwight took the elevator back up to his room.
In the office Jim siphoned through his mail. Most of it was trash. Michael had taken it upon himself to write a weekly newsletter about anything under the sun that he found interesting the week before. Mike’s Marks, granted the title was kind of catchy, but the rest of it was pure nonsense. Michael had been giving Jim two copies every week; one for him and one to send to Pam to keep her updated.
He threw a few things away before the postcard fell out. It was from Pam. She had been sending them for weeks now. He read the back of it and ran his finger of her writing.
“What do you got there?” Karen was standing in front of him.
“It’s a postcard from Pam.” He held up the front so she could see and then placed it back on top of the papers. He hoped she wouldn’t ask to read it. Karen was sort of nosy and he’d rather not spend the next 5 minutes explaining why the place reminded Pam of him.
“I emailed her the other day. She sounds like she’s having a lot of fun.”
“I’m actually going to go write her back right now. I’ll see you later though.” He walked past her and out the door.
“Oh hey,” She called from behind him. “I have an extra ticket to the football game tomorrow. My friend was supposed to come up, but she can’t anymore. Do you want it?”
“Yeah, how much do you want for it?”
“You can just have it.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. My friend already paid me for it and she said I could give it away since it was so last minute.”
“Cool, just drop it off at my room later.” Jim turned away before he could see her blushing.
He got back to his room and turned on his computer. He put some music on and sat down at his desk to pretend to do some work for the next 3 hours. Karen stopped by an hour later. He could see that she had changed clothes and her hair was done differently.
“What are you so dressed up for?”
“Nothing, I just—no reason. Here’s the ticket.” She put it down on his dresser. “If you don’t have anyone to go with we can sit together.”
“I normally sit with Andy and Michael when I get a ticket. But if you want to sit with us I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.”
He didn’t catch the disappointment on her face. She thought about just leaving, but she didn’t want to give up without at least trying. “What are you listening to?”
“Just some stuff my brother sent me. Elliot Smith, The Little One’s.” He watched her standing there nervously. “You can sit down if you want.”
She scanned the room for a place to sit. He got up and threw his stuff off his chair so she could sit. They sat in silence for awhile. He had never really hung out with Karen last year. He wasn’t even sure if Karen hung out with anyone. She just kept to herself. He didn’t really know anything about her except for the few things he learned this year and last year during training.
“Thanks for the ticket. Let me know if I you ever want me to pay you back.”
“Maybe you can take me out to dinner one night.”
That was absolutely not what he meant. “So how’s school?” He changed the subject.
“Good,” she answered. “Sort of ready to be done.”
He saw her relax a bit. “Not going the Michael Scott route?”
“Definitely not.”
“That’s too bad, because next year I plan on taking over and I could use a good recruit to keep Dwight in check.”
“Careful, I might take you up on that offer. I don’t know who the better leader is, but you’ve definitely got Dwight in the looks department.”
She smiled a little too wide and her eyes were sparkling. Was she flirting with him? Did she think he was flirting back? He was just trying to be friendly.
“Speaking of Dwight, I should actually go. I was supposed to meet him ten minutes ago. Thanks again for the ticket.”
Karen got up from the bed. “See you tomorrow, Halpert.”
“Yep.”
He felt bad for lying, but it was an awkward comment and he didn’t know if he should just ignore it or what. Maybe she wasn’t flirting; maybe that’s just how she joked around. She talked to Pam, and he thought that they were friends, and friends don’t flirt with their friend’s boyfriend, right? Girl politics was never his strong suit.
He walked up to Dwight’s floor. He figured he could get a little investigating done.
He knocked a few times before Dwight answered. Jim hadn’t been in Dwight’s room this year yet. He was shocked to find that his room still looked exactly the same. Obviously his “normal” Dwight persona hadn’t transferred into his room decorating.
“Has it been 3 hours already?”
“No, I just thought I would come hang out for a bit. Relive the good ol’ days.”
Jim waited for Dwight to invite him in. Dwight opened the door more and allowed Jim to pass. Once inside Jim could see what Dwight was doing with the extra hour that he requested. Dwight had a pair of hair clippers sitting out in front of his mirror.
“Were you going to shave your head?” Jim looked back at the clippers and then back at Dwight several times.
Dwight didn’t answer. Jim decided not to beat around the bush anymore. There was no one else here. “What’s going on with you? What’s up with the new clothes and the glasses—actually I like the glasses, keep the glasses. But the rest of the stuff just isn’t you. You haven’t said one mean or weird thing to me all year.”
“I just thought it was time for a change.”
“Does this have anything to do with Angela?”
Dwight nodded his head.
“Did she make a comment about the way you dressed or something?”
He shook his head. “She dumped me for Andy freaking Bernard.” Dwight lightly kicked the chair next to him.
“I had no idea,” Jim put a hand on his shoulder to console him. This reminded him of freshman year when Dwight had spent all night studying for his first chemistry midterm and he was sure that he had failed. When he got back after taking it he was just silent as he stared at his computer screen. Jim just put one hand on his shoulder and told him that he was sure that he did okay. An hour later Dwight was acting like an ass again, but at least he wasn’t moping.
“Were you going to give yourself an Andy Bernard haircut?”
Jim laughed and Dwight cracked a small smile.
.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Jim is worried about Dwight.
Chapter End Notes:
Next chapter we find out what Karen's true intentions are.
