Jim thinks he’s the only person in his class who is eager to see the United Nations building. He eats his lunch with Mark near a fountain in Central Park, and he can’t stop talking about it. Even their grade five teacher, who is lounging on the grass with some of the other students a few yards away, isn’t this excited to see it. But then again, Jim rationalizes, she’s been here before. He practically vibrates as he perches on the rock wall, eating his ham and cheese sandwich.
Across the plaza, the parents volunteers have organized a game of Red Rover for the students who have finished eating. It’s one of Mark’s favourite games. He gulps down the last of his Coke and leaps from the fountain’s edge. “You comin’ Halpert?”
“In a sec,” Jim replies through his mouthful. He doesn’t really want to play, but Mark is his best friend. And, there’s the long shot chance that he might get to hold Pam Beesly’s hand like last week in gym class. That time, she and Jim had managed to hold back Bruce Melnyk, the biggest boy in class. As one of two heroes of the hour, Jim felt almost as good in the glow of admiration as he did the moment she slipped her small hand into his and squeezed tight, telling him to hold on.
The very moment he begins shoving the rest of his lunch back into the lunch bag, as if he willed it to happen, Pam walks by with a group of kids from class. She smiles up at him and waves a little, and Jim feels his heart leap into his throat and he stops breathing. He’s only ten, but he’s pretty sure that love is supposed to feel like being winded; that, or like you’ve downed a whole bag of pop rocks and they’re tickling you from the inside as they fall into your stomach. Pop Rock Pam, Jim smiles as he waves back at her.
“Do you like my new earrings?” she asks him, stopping for a second and lifting up a section of her crimped hair to show Jim the star studs implanted in her earlobes. It was one girl custom Jim didn’t understand, but he smiled and nodded anyway.
“They’re nice,” he says.
“They’re like Jem’s,” Pam says with a flip of her hair. “She’s totally boss.”
Jim wondered why so many girls liked a silly after school cartoon so much. But he had to admit that the little stars in her ears were nice, even if the practice of poking holes in one's flesh was barbaric (At best, he reasoned).
But he didn't have much chance to ruminate on the subject. Ryan had been stealthily sneaking up on Pam from behind and was suddenly - rudely - snapping her bra strap. With a loud "Thwack!", the strap hits Pam square between the shoulder blades. She shrieks and spins around to face him, but he and his friends are all laughing uncontrollably. She presses her hand against her back at an awkward angle, and rubs her fingers along the spot where she'd been hit.
Jim watches as Pam’s face goes from angry to sad in a split second. He probably would have laughed if it had been anyone else’s bra – when Ryan was snapping Kelly’s bra strap the week before, it had been so hilarious he had almost peed his pants laughing one recess. Kelly had been cool with it because she thought it meant that Ryan liked her, but neither Jim nor any of the other guys could really figure out why she’d think that.
But now that Ryan had moved on to Pam as the sole object of his attention, it wasn’t funny in the least. It doesn't help that Pam looks so embarrassed by the whole thing, or that all of Ryan’s buddies are starting to laugh even harder because of it
Jim grabs his lunch bag and hops off the wall. “Knock it off.”
Ryan was incredulous. “Sorry Jim, I didn’t know Pam was your girlfriend!”
He’d said it like it was a bad thing. Jim smiles inside even as his face turns red in anger for Pam’s embarrassment. Still, Ryan and his crew leave, and Pam and Jim stand alone by the fountain. Jim realizes that he feels brave, although he doesn't know what he did to bring anything favourable about.
“Sorry about that,” he says to her finally.
“It’s not your fault,” she shifts a little, “I just don’t like people knowing that… well… you know.”
He thinks she means that she wants her bra-wearing to remain a secret, and he decides then and there that girls are weird. Still, he likes Pam enough to overlook it.
“Thanks for the save anyway,” she nods. “I guess I owe you one.”
“Let’s forget about it,” Jim says. “Ryan’s a dork.”
“Yeah,” she brushes her hair behind her ear, “You know, I’m getting a little excited for this U.N. thing. How about you?”
Jim hears her words and smiles, wondering if love can also feel like a warm summer day in the middle of Central Park, with a belly full of ham and cheese sandwich, standing next to the prettiest Jem wannabe on his side of the Mississippi.
After a moment of wondering, Pam smiles, and Jim knows: absolutely, it can.
Author's Chapter Notes:
So here we go again... remember, we're pretending that some of the Office gang knew each other back in the day. This time, they’re in grade five. It's cute, it's fluffy... it's JAM in 1989!!!
