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Jon is spending a month in Florida with his parents visiting his Nana. She is his paternal grandmother. Jon's maternal grandmother passed away May of last year. Jon and Jim's mom, Larissa, took her mother's death very hard and has only recently stopped crying every time she is reminded of her. Jon is very close to his mom and he had to sleep over our house almost every night last summer so he didn't have to see his mom in so much pain. If he didn't sleep at our house he slept in our old tree house. Larissa just thought he was going through a weird "outdoorsy" phase and he let her.

A few of his Aunts, Uncles and cousins are going to Florida as well, and then they are all coming back here for the Halpert-Beesly Fourth of July party. Their father, James or big Jim, grew up here in Pennsylvania not far from where we live now. Jim is the only one not going to Florida because the Universe hates me. Also, his boss really needs him this time of year. Jim basically runs the landscaping business that he works for. His boss, David Wallace trusts him implicitly. Mr. Wallace doesn't sleep very much nowadays because his wife just gave birth to their third baby and he spends a lot more time at home.

God willing, Jim will be too busy to bother me while Jon and his parents are away. He goes out of his way to be a pain in my ass sometimes. Like the time I was a senior in high school and he made me late for homeroom because he had moved my car earlier that morning before he left for work. He knew that my car keys were usually under my driver's seat. Yes, our neighborhood is THAT safe. Thankfully, I didn't have a hard time locating the 1990 grey Ford Taurus. My cell phone rang about 30 seconds after I was sure I hadn't lost my mind and when I answered, Dwight asked me, "is this a joke, Pamela? I will never be able to pick up breakfast for Michael and make it to work on time!" Of course it was blocking Dwight's driveway, why wouldn't it be? I saw him later that evening and let him know what an asshole he was for doing that. Dwight had complained to the Principle because I made him late and the rumor mill was reporting that I had slept at Dwight’ house! Jim just shook his head at me and said, “Dwight? Really bees? You could do a hell of a lot better. Did he light some beet scented candles and have his way with you?” Then he smiled and waited for the inevitable, “I HATE YOU!” to which he replied, “I know.” He needed a life then and he still does.

We are cleaning up our car washing supplies when Jon's mom calls us in to taste her potato salad. It's world famous and she knows it, but loves to hear us praise it.

We are about to go inside for some relief from the weather and make a show out of eating potato salad when Jim comes back out of the house and stops us to ask, "Are you guys doing anything tonight for Jon's last night in town?"

"Why do you care?" I know I'm being rude, but he deserves it.

"Wow bees, I'm offended. That's my brother and he is leaving for a month of course I care. I'm a caring guy"

"The sensitive guy routine may work on all the hot little biddies, or whatever your type calls 'em, but you seem to forget we've met before. Please explain to me again why you're not going to Florida? You should DEFINITELY go; your family will miss you and it's very far away."

"Who would keep you company?"

"I'll make do, thanks. I have other friends besides Jonathan" but they all kind of suck in comparison.

"You're a little old to be having tea parties with your stuffed animals, aren't you?"

Jon decides to step in and end this before I slap Jim, "Alright alright you two… enough already. I don't know what we're doing. Pam, would you want to go out? If not, we can do whatever" Jon never wants to go out. He says it's a waste of money and the same people are always at the same places talking about the same things.

"Geez Jon, you're not even having sex with her and you're whipped"

Before Jon or I have a chance to reply to his asinine comment, Larissa and her potato salad are becoming impatient, "James Halpert, I heard that! Quit being an ass! Get in here and taste this so I can put it away" Did I mention my adoring affection for Larissa Halpert?

They both look at me as if to say, "well?"

"That's fine we can go out. I just have to shower and then I'm up for whatever."

"Cool. It's settled. Me Jon and bees paintin' the town." Dork.

"Or, Jon and I watch you try and pick up anything with girl parts and a pulse."

The look I'm currently receiving from Jim is a little unsettling. Did I actually hurt his feelings? Does he have feelings to hurt? At least I made Jon laugh.

"Not tonight you won't," He says this in a tone that suggests he means it and keeps eye contact with me the whole time. He's starting to make me feel nervous when he snaps out of it and quickly asks me to close the blinds in my room while I'm getting dressed this time and informs me that my obsession with trying to seduce him is getting scary. Why couldn't my room face Jonathan's? Or the bathroom? Instead I have to walk by my window and witness Rico McLadykiller with whatever piece of trash he happened to fall into on the way home.

I wonder if he's good in bed.

I mean, I've heard he is, but what makes him better than other guys? Don't they pretty much all have the same moves? Jim's eyes can be incredibly intense. They are a blue-green color that stands out when he's tan, which by the way is natural and comes from long hours of working in the sun. His eyes have caught me off guard more than once. I catch him staring at me sometimes and he doesn't look away, but it's never creepy. Sometimes he stands just a little too close and stares directly into my eyes just a little longer than is necessary and asks me a question such as, "where's Jon?" or "you seen my dad?"

It's Jim; he's probably perfected his "I want you" look over the years…in the mirror…wow, that is an image I'm going to store away for the next time I'm having a bad day. Anyway, I'd say the look is perfect, but he sucks so who cares? I bet he isn't even that great in bed and girls just feel the need to say that he is because he's "Jim Halpert" and all of the girls he has been with are no doubt dumber than bricks.

Roy doesn't have a "look." No intense gaze, not even a half-hearted glimpse. Roy's never even made me come. I don't know why I still "hang out" with him. It's not like it's so good its addicting. I've given Roy head more times than I can count. He's never even returned the favor, but he does say I'm amazing at it. Fantastic maybe I'll take my act on the road. Whatever. Isn't any head good head? Okay, maybe I have been best friends with a guy for too long.

For whatever reason, I think it's a great idea to tell Jim this information regarding my lame ex boyfriend later while we're sitting next to each other in a booth at this little dive bar that Jim chose. I really like it because it has a jukebox and the drinks are cheap. I'm guessing that Jim likes it because the women and the drinks have a lot in common. If we don't keep this conversation going we'll be forced to watch Jon make out with our waitress, Suzy. They are on the other side of our booth. Relax, Suzy's shift ended an hour ago, shortly followed by my sobriety and yes, I got the names right. JON is the one working on a one night stand and Jim is sitting in the booth next to me.

"What?!" is his eloquent response to my confessions about Roy.

"Christ Halpert, you could try and act not so surprised."

He laughs a little when I call him Halpert because usually the nicest thing I refer to him as is Jim.

"I AM surprised. I'm very surprised and I'm not gonna lie, I'm disappointed in Roy"

"So what? He's never gone down on me. He does other things, but it's not like I really know what I'm missing or anything" Why am I defending Roy?

"What do you mean you…? Have you NEVER had ANYONE do that for you?"

"I... No, I haven't"

"Jesus" he breathes and there are his goddamn eyes again. Am I…is this turning him on? I have to stop this.

"Oh it can't be that great! Am I blushing? Stop looking at me like that!"

"I'm sorry, I'm just really shocked. This is what my face looks like when I'm in shock."

He's too much for me to take right now so I just start rambling like an idiot, "THAT is not what anyone looks like when they are shocked and it's not like I've been with many people and Roy tried to go down on me once and I wouldn't let him so now he doesn't even try and I can't ask!... I don't know why I keep hooking up with Roy. He's never even made me come…no one has…why am I telling you this?!"

I would tell Jon all of these very personal things, in fact I have because he would never tell the entire world or use this information against me. Jim might.

He loses the look and is just neighbor-guy Jim again when he finally speaks, "Well, now I have questions. How many is not many? He tried literally only one time to go down on you? Why in the hell wouldn't you let him? Now, to answer your question, you are telling me because you're drunk and you know how much I love challenges. Also, you can calm down I would never say a thing about this to anyone. This is between me and you and I'm assuming Jon already knows all of this, so if I absolutely HAVE to gossip about you I'll just do it with him."

He keeps making me laugh tonight, damnit! He really is a charming son of a bitch. I probably shouldn't, but I decide to trust him. What's the worst that could happen? Roy should be more embarrassed by any of this than I should.

"Okay, I've slept with 2 people, yes he tried to go down on me just the one time and I stopped him because of typical insecure dumb girl reasons. Who doesn't love a great challenge, but what does your love of challenges have to do with my awful sex life? Oh! Also, I am not drunk, I'm tipsy."

He looks down at me and gives me a slow, lazy smile. He looks down very briefly and licks his lips, then slowly returns his eyes to mine and he says, "Pam, you're not a typical anything, nor are you a dumb girl. Don't let Roy Anderson make you feel insecure about anything because that's just not you and I don't know this first hand, but I've seen enough to confidently say that you have nothing to worry about when it comes to anything sexual. You're a very sexy girl and if you feel insecure at all when you are with someone, then you shouldn't be with that person. If you can't bring yourself to ask him to please you or tell him what you want and what you like then…"

The whole time he's speaking to me I feel like we're the only ones in this bar. Why is he being so nice? And why is my lap wet? What the…?

"OH MY GOD I'M SO SORRY!!" Suzy waitress practically screams as she starts dabbing at my lap with a bar towel. She spilled my beer on me? How does that happen? Was she climbing onto the table or waving her arms violently? Couldn't she have waited a few more minutes to do whatever she was doing? I've never heard Jim speak to ANYONE like that, let alone the fact that it was me and he looked like he meant every word. This is just my luck.

I'm well past tipsy, but I can't let Jim be right. I hate it when he's right. I hate him. Except for when I'm drunk. I apparently like him when I'm drunk. I like everyone when I'm drunk.

For Lord only knows what reason, this train of thought makes me laugh very hard and I can't stop myself and I ask Suzy if she is coming on to me and suddenly Jim announces, "Time to go Beesly! You've had enough fun for one night!"

"What are we gonna do now? I don't feel like going home"

Jim is standing next to me with his hand on my lower back trying to get me to move towards the door when Jon speaks up, "I think we should go skinny-dipping!"

Jim's eyebrows shoot up and disappear into his floppy hair and I reach up and run my fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck. His head snaps to my direction and he looks very confused so I smile and say, "It looked soft" It does.

He smiles back and shakes his head a little at me, "let's get you home"

"You wanna go swimming when we get back?"

"Skinny-dipping or plain old swimming? How are we getting back anyway?"

"Are you drunk?" I have the biggest smile plastered onto my face. I may actually be sore tomorrow from all of this smiling. I'm also trying to avoid his question because I kind of want to say skinny-dipping, but I know how ridiculous that would be.

"You know, you have a really great smile Beesly; you should bring it out more often"

"I smile a lot. I'm a happy person and thank you so do you"

"I guess it's just me who is usually deprived of the Beesly smile"

"So try and make me smile more often," What? I can bring the flirt.

"Oh, you didn't know? It's my new mission in life to do exactly that"

"You had an old mission?"

"Just world domination, but I can table that for now"

"Ah. I see. Where is your secret lair?"

"My what?!" he is laughing so hard he can barely get those two words out.

"Uh, your lair duh. Villains always have a lair! You'll never conquer the world without a lair"

"Stop saying lair" He leans in close to my face and says, "What makes you think I would tell you where it is?" He gives me a sly little smile that I can't help but return.

"I'm very persuasive." He's suddenly serious and still very close. He's looking directly into my eyes and I feel a wave of arousal hit me. His voice is low and gravely when he says, "I bet you are."