.
She never called Roy’s parents back that night. Actually, when she went home for Thanksgiving she didn’t see them either. When she told her mom that Roy asked about her she was blunt with her answer. Her mom told her that she thought it would be best if she distanced herself from them for a bit. Roy could wait. He would be home after Christmas and they could figure things out then. It was Roy’s time to wait. She had school to worry about.
She was glad when she got back to school. She didn’t have to worry about running into anyone. In those next two weeks things returned to normal. Finals were just about over. She did most of her studying in the office because for some reason Kelly apparently didn’t need to study. Phyllis had called her that afternoon and asked her if she could work for a few hours. She thought it would be a good idea to get out of her room. Kelly had "Hollaback Girl" on repeat for the past hour. So now that she was in the office away from the music she still couldn’t get any studying done. It seemed like every 5 minutes someone new came in the office. It was like they knew that she needed to get things done and they were hell bent on stopping her. Toby showed up first.
“Hey Toby.”
“Oh uh, hey Pam.”
She hated that he always seemed nervous and sad, like he was hiding something.
“How’s it going?”
“Pretty good. Just need to print out new flyers for my study groups. Michael blacked out the J and the I on all of them and now they say ‘COME -O-N US THERE’LL BE ICECREAM!’”
“Sounds like Michael.”
“What sounds like me?”
Toby quickly recoiled in the corner as Michael walked in.
“Oh, Toby and I were just talking about Wedding Crashers. We both think that you really remind us of Vince Vaughn’s character.”
“You think so?” Michael’s chest puffed out a bit at the compliment.
“Yeah, definitely. I watched it last night and I could not stop thinking about you the whole time.”
“Watch it Pam. I’m taken.”
Toby quickly turned to face Pam. They both weren’t sure if they had just heard that.
“Who’s the lucky lady?” She was trying her hardest to keep a straight face.
“I’m not a liberty to say. It’s a secret, top secret actually.” He looked like a little kid who was thrilled that he knew something you didn’t. He snickered to himself thinking how utterly smooth he was during Pam’s question. And just as quickly as he entered the office he left.
“Interesting.”
Toby squeezed behind her chair to get to the printer. She instinctively scooted her chair in to give him more room. He waited patiently as the pages were printed. Then, for a second when no one was looking he leaned in ever so slightly towards Pam and breathed in her hair. He knew it was creepy, but he had to know what she smelled like.
He looked up from Pam’s head and Angela was standing there. She looked pissed. He hoped it wasn’t because she had seen him. He turned back to the printer and grabbed the papers and walked out without a word.
Pam looked up as she felt the whoosh of wind from Toby’s departure. She was greeted by that death glare that she thankfully hadn’t seen shot in her direction in months.
“Hey Angela.”
“Pam.” Angela just stood there. She made no attempt to continue with the conversation.
Pam watched as Dwight walked up next to Angela. She saw Dwight mouth something to Angela. Whatever he said though didn’t go over well with Angela. Her posture became more rigid. Dwight brought a hand to Angela’s shoulder and she pulled away. If Pam didn’t know better she would think it was a lovers’ spat. Then the light when on. She remembered that conversation that she had with Angela. Could Dwight be the one? Jim and Pam didn’t really follow through on trying to find out who this mystery man was. They watched her interactions with everyone, but she never gave them the slightest clue. Whoever he was he had to be a glutton for punishment. Dwight seemed crazy enough to attempt a relationship with her, and now that she thought about it, Angela seemed crazy enough to date Dwight. She shuddered when she imagined them together. Stupid imagination. She tried to shake the thought from her head. It was ingrained in her mind’s eye.
She was glad when Stanley walked in.
“Pam can you count the number of shifts that everyone has?” That Eeyore voice got her every time. He handed her a huge stack of papers and then his focus turned to Angela and Dwight. “What are you two arguing about?”
Angela and Dwight looked surprised that he had noticed. Neither of them spoke.
“Good, because I do not care. Keep your personal business private. This is not a therapy session.”
Dwight could almost appreciate Stanley in these moments. Dwight always felt that there was no place for emotions at work. It should be kept confidential. It was like showing an adversary your weakness and asking them to exploit it.
Then as if on cue Jan walked in. She thanked God when Jan didn’t walk up to her and give her more work to do. She tapped Angela on the shoulder.
“Angela, I’ve been getting complaints about your program. You can’t have a program that excludes a whole groups of people.”
“It doesn’t exclude anyone. It clearly says on the flyer that all people are welcome.”
“...to celebrate the birth of Christ. If you’re going to have a religious party you have to include all cultures and celebrations.”
Dwight suddenly chippers up. “What about Omisoka? It’s a Japanese celebration.”
“Fine, you two work together and try to make this party as inoffensive as you possibly can.”
That’s when she noticed it as Jan walked away and got on the elevator. She wasn’t taking the elevator down to her office. Pam watched from her chair as the light above the elevator indicated that it had stopped on the fifth floor.
‘Was Jan Michael’s lucky lady?’ She thought. Jim was never around when she needed to bounce her insane theories off of him.
The office finally cleared out as Stanley walked back into his office across the way. Dwight and Angela walked into the lounge and Pam could have sworn she heard Dwight say the word ‘monkey’ as the door was closing. She looked at the huge stack of paper that Stanley gave her and she began counting. It only took 4 minutes to do. She should have just left it for Phyllis. Phyllis always seemed to be just sitting here when she walked by.
She looked back down at her notes. She really liked art history. She could tell you anything about any piece of art; the medium, the subject, the significance. But she always got caught up on the dates. She wasn’t a number person. And now she sat here with a hundred different pieces that had been covered in class and she could only tell you a handful of dates.
She put her head down in defeat. At least the room was quiet.
“Spam-a-lot.”
‘Oh God.’ She keeps her head down on the desk. She knows who it is. “Hey Andy.”
“You look weary.”
She grunts in agreement. Suddenly she feels hands on her shoulder pressing hard into her muscles. She shoots up. She turns her head and sees that Andy’s hands are still hovering over her. She doesn’t say anything, she just shakes her head.
“Just thought I’d help you relieve some of that tension.”
“Thank you, but I’m good for now.”
Andy takes a few steps back and sits on the ledge of one of the counter tops in the room. He is completely unfazed by his actions and Pam’s reaction. “Well the reason I came by was to invite you to my a cappella group. We’re performing tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I think I can make it.” Other than being a little aggressive Andy was nice. She didn’t consider him a friend, but he was trying and he was her RA.
“Tremendous. We can grab a slice afterwards.”
This was quickly turning into what she didn’t want it to turn into. A date. “It’s probably best if I come back right after, just because I’ve got so much studying to do, and I have to pack still. Maybe, uh, maybe next time though.”
“That works too.” He looked crushed, but that look was gone as soon as he saw Karen walk by. He followed after her, no doubt to ask her out as well.
She looked back down at the paper and started writing out dates. She was going to get them down if it killed her. The office phone rang.
“Dunder Hall, this is Pam.”
“Dunder Hall, this is Jim.” All he said was 5 words and she was already in a better mood. “A little birdie told me that you’re studying the afternoon away.”
“Who told you that?”
“I called your cell, but you didn’t answer. So I called your room and Kelly said you were covering for Phyllis.”
“Bet you she didn’t mention that I was within inches of throwing her computer out of the window.”
“That bad, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“What are you doing after Phyllis gets back?”
“Probably head over to the library and hopefully find an open desk.”
“Well I know somewhere cooler than the library. It’s closer aaaand it has me!”
“Someone’s a little sure of himself.”
“Uh huh, yep. I know exactly what you mean. Michael has really got to cool it with that ego.”
“Well now that you mentioned Michael it’s a done deal.”
“All this time I’ve been trying to get you to do things and all I had to do was mention Michael’s name. It’s kind of kinky, but I’m okay with that.”
“No, you’re stupid.” All he needed to do was ask and she would do anything for him. “I have a story about Michael.”
“I need some quality Pam time. I haven’t slept in 3 days and I haven’t seen anyone in 3 days who has slept.”
“Where are you going with this?” she teased.
“Hurry up and get your skinny butt over here.”
“You definitely have no room to talk. I’ve seen those bird legs.”
“You know what Pam that was low. I told you that they’ll fill out by next year.”
“I’m sorry. You put down my butt and I got a little angry.”
“Don’t let it happen again.” This banter came so easy for them. If only the truth was this easy. “Call me when you get here and I’ll come down and get you. Wouldn’t want you to get lost. Architecture students get a little crazy during finals.”
“Phyllis just got here, so I’ll see you in ten.” She whispered this because the only thing Phyllis hated more than moving the position of her chair was taking personal phone calls on the office phone. “How did your meeting go?”
Phyllis was in a surprisingly good mood. She was smiling. She didn’t look pissed that Pam was talking on the phone when she walked in. “Oh Pam, it wasn’t a meeting. It was a lunch date. Bob Vance from Maintenance asked me out this morning. I called to see if they could bring me a new refrigerator and they sent Bob up with one.”
“Good for you Phyllis.”
“Thanks Pam.”
As she was walking out of the office she wondered if she sounded like that when she talked about Jim.
Pam cuts across the field so she can get to the architecture building faster. It was good to hear that Jim missed her as much as she missed him. She always felt like she needed to reassure herself that this wasn’t a one sided friendship. It clearly wasn’t, but she still had some issues with commitment, even when it came to friendships. Before she knew it she was standing in front of the old building and she pulled out her phone and called Jim. He emerged from the building a minute a later. He didn’t give her a chance to say anything. He just walked right up to her and hugged her. It was strange; they normally refrained from touching each other. They definitely weren’t the type of friends that hugged each other every time they saw each other. Even if she wanted to fight it she couldn’t. The moment his hands hit her back she was a goner. The hug lasted a little bit longer than it should have.
When they pulled a part Jim confessed, “I needed that. I feel like the walking dead.”
“For not sleeping in 3 days you still look relatively normal.”
“Relatively normal?”
“I’m guessing you haven’t seen your hair.” She reached up and flattened down a few hairs that were doing the opposite of floppy.
“So am I going to see what you’ve been working on?”
“Yeah, but if you hate it don’t tell me. I don’t think I can take the criticism right now.”
“I could never hate anything you do.” He hoped that was true. He certainly hated lots of things he did.
.
Author's Chapter Notes:
So I was a little surprised by how many of you wanted Roy to be dead. I thought about doing it, but I just felt too bad about doing it. This chapter is kind of a fun whatever chapter. A few characters we haven't seen in awhile stop by. I feel like I'm neglecting them.
Chapter End Notes:
Next chapter we continue with Jim and Pam spending some time together before break.
