.
Her first week in the hall was going faster than she had hoped. Most of her time was spent with Phyllis training. She hadn’t seen Jim a whole lot in the past few days. The Dunder staff was doing training and bonding activities at different halls. She did meet another office assistant or Community Assistants as they were called. His name was Ryan. He was definitely on the smaller side when it came to muscles, but he was nice. He helped the time past with greater ease.
Ryan and Pam sat in the TV lounge legs spread out. Hundreds of small manila packets were sitting in front of them. Pam was labeling them all with a room number and then an A or B. She would then pass the small envelope to Ryan and he would place two keys into the envelope, one metal and one card key. They had been sitting on the floor for about two hours wordless praying to finish before 7pm.
“I can’t do this anymore,” Ryan said throwing down another envelope. “Wanna take a dinner break?”
She pushed aside the mess in front of her and rolled over on her back. Staring at the ceiling she closed one eye and began counting the tiles in the room. Ryan laid down too. They’re bodies were perpendicular to each other and his head laid near hers’.
“21, 22, 23, 24...” She stopped. She moved his head towards him. “Can we order something instead?”
“We’ve only been here 5 days and we’ve already ordered food twice this week.”
“I know, but Phyllis’ stupid assignments make me want comfort food.” She pouted.
“Don’t make that face. I told you that it looks just like my sister’s face.”
“Must have a pretty cute sister then, huh?” She scrunched her face together and continued to pout.
“Fine, but no extra sauce on the pizza this time. I felt like I was dipping my pizza in spaghetti sauce.”
Pam got up and walked out of the lounge toward the office. Ryan continued to lie on his back and was now counting the tiles.
She walked back into the room, and immediately grabbed the recycle bin next to the door and propped the door open with it. “They said they would call when they got here.”
Pam took a seat on a couch behind their mess. Ryan rolled over and stretched out to turn on the big screen. It was an older big screen. The color was going on it. Every image on the screen had a nice yellow and green outline. “You know this TV is pop art without even trying.”
Ryan pushed himself up on his elbows and looked back at her, “What?”
“You know, the exaggerated outline with the usage of yellow and green makes the people all seem cartoonish and fake.”
“Pam, it’s TV, everyone is fake.”
“Nevermind,” she sighed. Pam looked back at the TV and Ryan and she sat in silence for fifteen minutes watching Homer playing softball. A small laugh would escape her mouth every once in a while. Ryan on the other hand had a loud hearty laugh every few scenes. It was like he had never seen the episodes or the Simpsons.
The phone rang in the office and she jumped up to get it. Ryan didn’t move just laid on his stomach watching.
“Dunder Hall this is Pam,” she waited for the voice, “Alright, I’ll be right out.” She turned off the lights and closed the door behind her and headed for the front entrance.
She greeted the pizza guy. Signed her receipt and walked back in. She heard voices coming from the lounge. Three distinct voices all singing.
“We’re talking softball... From Maine to San Diego.” The lyrics got a little jumbled as they continued and picked up again at the end. “We’re talking Homerrrrr... Ozzie and the Strawwww!”
She walked in to see Ryan now sitting with Jim, Dwight, and Andy. Dwight clearly abstaining from singing, probably because he had actually never seen this episode. She was greeted by a smile and a ‘Hey Pam.’ She placed the pizza on the floor and opened the box. Ryan went for a piece first. He was halfway done with it by the time Pam picked up her slice. She looked at the other guys in the room, “You guys can grab some if you want.”
Andy immediately went for a slice and so did Dwight. Jim hesitated. “What’s the matter, don’t like pepperoni?” Talking to Jim had gotten easier every time she saw him and it was easier to look into those eyes too.
“Oh, no it’s just, I feel bad because I didn’t chip in.”
“It’s not a big deal, if you don’t eat any then I’ll just force myself to eat the rest later and then I’ll feel like crap. And I’ll have to blame you.”
“Fine, but let me buy you a soda.” He loved that face she made. It was sort of similar to the smirk he gave to people when he was giving them crap. He got up and walked over to the vending machine that illuminated that half of the lounge. “Is grape okay?”
“Perfect.” She said looking up from her greasy pizza. He walked back over and handed her a soda and sat next to her on the floor.
Andy was on his third slice when he began to speak. “So Pam-ela, tell me about yourself. What makes you tick?”
Pam shoved the remaining bit of cheese hanging from her lip into her mouth. “What do you want to know exactly?”
“Where are you from?” Jim interjected.
“Scranton. It’s like 2 and half hours from here.”
“Major?” Jim continued.
“Art History, for now.”
“Nice. I’m in Architecture.” He said smiling. “So are you excited about this whole college experience?”
“Yeah I guess,” she picked off a few pepperonis and placed them on her napkin, “I’ve already been in school for a whole year. This is just my first in year in an actual university.”
“So you’re a sophomore?” She nodded, “Cool. Dwight, Andy, and I are too. Maybe I’ll have a class or two with you.” He reached across her lap for the discarded pepperonis on the napkin, “Can I?” She blushed as his hand grazed her arm.
“Sure,” she said even though he already had them in his hands.
The five of them sat watching another episode of The Simpsons. Dwight was the first to get up. He thanked Ryan and Pam for the pizza and excused himself. As the door from the lounge swung open they caught a glimpse of a pink blur standing by the closed office window. Ryan and Pam looked at each other.
“NOT IT!” Ryan yelled.
Pam stood up and gave Ryan a dirty look as she opened the door. “Hey. Can I help you?”
“Yeah, I need to check in, but no one is here.”
“That’s probably because check in doesn’t start until Sunday.”
“Oh my god! Are you kidding?” The girl looked like she was going to hyperventilate, but instead she got her second wind. “I knew when I booked my ticket I should have double checked the date. I mean, I’m usually good with dates, you know. Like, I’m really good at remembering all of the birthdates of the people from the Hills. Like Lauren’s birthday is the first of February, and that’s how I always remember my little sister’s birthday, because her birthday is the first too.”
Pam watched as this pink covered girl continued to carry on her own conversation. “I feel bad for sending you away, so let me see what I can do.” Pam walked over to the lounge followed by the girl. “Hey can I see one of you for a second.” Jim was the first to jump up.
“So we have a little bit of a problem. She,” Pam motioned to girl behind her, “flew in too early. Do you think we can give her her room key now?”
“Oh yeah, I guess Phyllis forgot to tell you. Every year we always get a few overzealous kids who show up early. Dwight showed up a whole week before check in last year.” He walked to the office and opened the door and ushered both girls in. “What’s your name?”
“Kelly Kapoor. I think I’m in room 360.”
Jim snorted, and Pam’s face dropped. “Well you’re in luck Kelly. Meet your new roommate, Pam.”
“OH MY GOD! We’re going to be just like sisters!” She hugged Pam and bounced a little while doing it. “I’ve always wanted a sister.”
“Didn’t you just say you had a sister?” Pam began to pull away from the hug.
“Yeah, but you’re that cool sister that I’ve always wanted. Tiffany is always bugging me. She’s so annoying. She can talk for hours and hours and hours. And then finally I’m like, earth to Tiffany, no one is listening. I mean, can you imagine having to live with that? But this is going to be so awesome.” Jim hands Kelly a card that indeed confirms that she is in in room 360. “Have you ever seen Parent Trap? The one with Lindsay Lohan before she became a coke addict. This is going to be just like that movie. Except we’re not twins and we don’t hate each other.”
Kelly signs her name on the card. She continues, “I had a good feeling when I got here. My horoscope said that I would meet a kindred spirit today, and here you are! Are you a Taurus? Because I’m a Virgo, and that would mean that this was totally written in the stars.”
Kelly grabbed one of her pink luggage that she had been rolling behind her and walked out of the office. “You know, I always thought that it would look like Rory Gilmore’s dorm from the Gilmore Girls. Or maybe even Joey’s from Dawson’s. Kind of a bummer.”
Jim followed Pam out and rubbed her shoulder, “You’ll get through this. And if not I’m always one floor above you.”
He gave her hope that this year wouldn't be all bad.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
again, I don't own anything.
Chapter End Notes:
Next chapter Pam meets quite the character in her Art Foundations class. Thank you so much to those of you who reviewed.
