.
Jim wasn’t sure what he was thinking when he asked Angela to stop by his room. He wasn’t sure what he would say. ‘Hey, I know you’re in love with Dwight and he’s in love with you too, maybe.’ That just seemed like the wrong thing to say. But what was the right thing to say. When he opened the door for Angela he froze. He should have thought this through more.
“What did you want?” She said sharply.
“I just... can you come in?”
She reluctantly entered and he closed the door behind her.
“I uh, I want to take Pam somewhere nice, like on a real date, and I needed some advice.” Angela was the last person he would ever ask for dating advice. He was surprised when she didn’t say church.
“There’s a new Italian restaurant downtown.” She said trying not to sound too annoyed that he was wasting her time.
“Did Andy take you there?”
She rolled her eyes and nodded.
“Thanks. I think Pam will really enjoy that.”
She reached for the door handle.
“I forgot. Next Friday I was going to do this movie night thing, before classes start. You should come. Everyone is going to be there. Me, Pam, Michael... Dwight.”
He watched as her eyes lit up. “I think I can go to that.”
He was going to have to go to the video store now and invite people. He should probably tell Pam what he was doing first. Maybe he could do it over dinner on a date. A date that didn’t include hanging out with their parents first. Their first real date.
He got online to look up the restaurant.
Pam was sitting on Kelly’s couch in her pajamas, listening to her bitch about her neighbors. Something about them being loud. It was hard to believe that someone could be louder than Kelly. Really hard.
It had been two weeks since Phyllis told her they didn’t have a room for her. Well they had rooms, just not in Dunder Hall and none of them were single rooms. She did the roommate thing before; she wasn’t up for it again. Better the devil you know then the one you don’t.
“He’s such a sea monster. Big and fat and stupid.”
Pam nodded her head, but didn’t make a sound. Kelly didn’t need to hear the uh-huhs and the oh reallys to keep talking; just eye contact to assure her that she wasn’t really talking to herself.
Pam wondered what Jim was doing. She knew what he wasn’t doing; he wasn’t listening to Kelly talk all morning. Maybe she could sleep in his room tonight.
“I really have to get ready for work,” she said looking over at the clock on the wall.
“Wow, I can’t believe we talked that long. I just lose track of time when we’re together.”
“Yeah, it’s weird how that happens.”
She grabbed her stuff and headed for the bathroom. She didn’t have to be at work for another hour, but she could use 30 minutes of quiet. She might pack some clothes in a bag so she could just stay at Dunder Hall.
She got to the office and opened it up for the afternoon. She was on her computer trying to pass the time until Jim came down to visit. And when Jim did walk in he looked amazingly good.
“What are you so spiffed up for? Got a hot date later that I don’t know about.”
“Actually, yes.” His face was emotionless; he made no effort to make it seem like a joke.
She furrowed her brows as she waited for him to explain. He stood in front of the desk and he finally tilted his head and let the corner of his mouth turn up slightly.
“What are you doing later?”
“Why?”
“Do you want go out with me tonight?”
“Are you really asking?”
“Yes, so just say yes.”
“Yes, I’ll go out with you. What’s with all properness?”
“I never actually asked you out. It just sort of happened and then I never asked you out on a date, I just took you out. I feel like we never did anything the way we’re supposed to. Not that we have to, I just don’t want you to feel like you’re missing out. So I’ll pick you up at Kelly’s at 7 then.”
Jim should have known things were going to be bad when he ran into Katy in the stairwell. He was in too good of a mood. He didn’t have his guard up. She smiled at him and he smiled back.
“You look nice. Going somewhere?”
“Yeah, I’m taking Pam out tonight.”
“Where to?”
“This Italian place.”
“Bring her flowers. Girls like flowers. Do you know what kind Pam likes?”
He shook his head no. There was still a lot he hadn’t learned about Pam, but there was time for that.
“Gerber daisies.”
“What?”
“You can’t go wrong with Gerber daisies.”
“Yeah, thanks for the advice.” Jim began walking faster suddenly realizing that all of people Katy shouldn’t be the person to tell about his plans for his date with Pam.
If Jim would have paid closer attention he would have seen that Katy had stopped once he reached his floor and she headed back downstairs.
Katy walked into the office noticing the smile on Pam’s face.
“You’re in a good mood.”
She nodded and tried to wipe the smile off of her face.
“Is Jim taking you out on a date?”
Pam shrugged her shoulders.
“He’ll probably take you to that little Italian place downtown. It’s his favorite.”
Pam rolled her eyes and focused back on her computer screen.
“And he’ll bring you flowers too. Gerber Daisies. He’s really a one trick kind of guy.”
“Excuse you?” Pam snapped.
“Don’t think you’re special because he dumped me for you. Jim treats all of his girlfriends the same way. He’ll get tired of you one day and dump you for someone else.”
Pam bit her lip to hold back her anger as Katy walked out of the office. She knew the kind of games Katy played. She fell for it last year and turned Jim away because she thought he was dating Katy.
Katy peeked her head back in the office. “I bet he puts your legs on his lap before going in to close the deal.”
Katy didn’t wait for Pam’s reaction. It was all just a shot in the dark. Katy had been with a lot of guys and a few things that she learned was that no matter how differently guys felt about their girlfriends they stuck to what they knew and what they knew girls liked. Whether it be different moves during sex or things they did on dates. How else would they perfect themselves into becoming that ideal man? She knew from looking at Pam that she hadn’t been around long enough to know that.
That last part was the only thing that shook her to her core. She remembered the way Jim put her legs on his lap and then suddenly pulled away. Was it because he caught himself doing something he used to do with Katy? As soon as she got off she rushed back to Kelly’s. Kelly tried to talk to her as she walked through the door, but Pam said that she had to get ready for a date. Kelly let out a scream of excitement.
She was nervously waiting. When the doorbell rang she jumped up from the couch, but slowed herself from running to the door. Katy had to be wrong.
“Wow,” she said as saw him.
He just gave her a small grin before handing her the flowers he had picked up earlier.
“You look beautiful.”
Those flowers, they were the same ones Katy said he would give her.
“Ready?” He asked extending his arm so she could hold it.
She followed him to the car but she didn’t take the arm he offered. She would wait till they got to the restaurant before making her final decision.
He parked the car and they walked a block to the restaurant. It was that damn Italian place.
Why would he take her on the same date that he took Katy on? During dinner all of these thoughts flew through her head. How many times had he used the “You’re the first girl that I’ve ever loved” line? How many girls had met his grandma? Spent the night there in his bed holding on to him during the night?
She tried to keep her cool during the date. She could be civil until they left. He saw that she wasn’t enjoying herself. He couldn’t think of anything that he did wrong.
On the ride home she didn’t speak. Even when he asked her something she would just nod and make a small grumbling noise. They were two blocks away from Kelly’s when he pulled the car over to the side of the road.
She looked at him. “What are you doing?”
“What’s with you tonight?”
“Nothing, just take me back to Kelly’s.”
“No. I’m not moving the car until you tell me.”
“If you wanted me to be just another Katy you could have been more honest about it. Because I’m really invested in this and it sucks that you lied. You had sex with me last month; there’s no need to put on a show for me now.” Her hands were trembling as she yelled at him.
“Do you really think that I would do something like that?” He spat back. “Do you honestly think that’s the kind of guy I am?”
“I didn’t, but now I really think you are.”
She opened the door and began walking towards Kelly's house. Jim jumped out of the car and ran after her.
“Pam? Come back. Don’t walk. It’s cold out here.”
She kept walking, not turning around to see him talk to her. He took her hand in his and she finally stopped.
“I can’t do this right now. I can’t look at you and be angry at you and be in love with you all at the same time. I just need to think about this for the night.”
He didn’t let go over her hand. “No, were going to do this now.”
“Fine. It sort of pisses me off that you took me on the same date that you took Katy on. And if you don’t see what’s wrong with that then we have an even bigger problem.”
“The same date as Katy?”
“Jim, she told me. You know she has a big mouth. Why you would even be able to keep it a secret is beyond on me.”
Then all of the pieces fell into place. “When did she tell you that?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yeah.”
“Right after you asked me out.”
“And did you find her timing at all suspicious?”
“A little,” she said more calmly.
“Because I mentioned to her that I was taking you on a date. It was stupid and I was in a good mood and I forgot that she could be so manipulative sometimes.”
“But what about the leg thing? A couple of weeks ago when we were in your room and you did the leg thing. Then you got weirded out. She said you would do that before you guys slept together.”
“That was true. I can’t take it back and as soon as I did it I knew it was wrong. But it’s going to happen sometimes. If you were my first for everything then I could promise you that it wouldn’t. And I’m sure they’ll be times that you’ll do something that you did with Roy, and if I knew I’d be mad too, for a while. It’s just something we’ll have to push through.”
“Sorry for yelling at you.”
“Its fine, but next time Katy runs to you with stories come and ask me first.”
She took a few steps into Jim until she was standing right beneath him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and put her head on his chest. He held her tightly.
“You still hungry? You didn’t really touch any of your food.”
“A little.”
“What’ll be then?”
“Something fattening and greasy.” She mumbled into his shirt.
“Pizza it is.”
They were definitely over dressed when they walked in, but he didn’t care and neither did she.
.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Jim takes Pam out on a date.
Chapter End Notes:
Don't worry, Pam will let Katy have it eventually. Thank you to Elly for beta-ing. This chapter still wouldn't be up if she hadn't helped.
