May, 2008
“I don’t want her to get away…” Michael said softly to Jim.
“I know. Here, Michael, you can court her as you get to know her, you know? I mean, the office is a great place for that. Pam and I, we got to know each other right out there. I mean, the first time we joked around was at my desk. And the first meal we ever had was, in the break room, actually. We were at two separate tables and, I remember that. The first time we kissed even, was right outside, and...” Jim said.
November, 2003
Jim was staying late tonight. It was already 7:00, and nearly everyone was gone. Pam was still sitting at her desk, organizing memos, and files. Jim knew Pam liked to organize things on Friday night, so she can come back to a clean desk on Monday.
“Pam,” Angela said, walking up to reception, “I was wondering if you would like to attend my cat party on Sunday.”
Jim looked up from his computer, and saw Pam trying to quickly think up of an excuse to say no. He smiled to himself, and turned back to his computer. He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. He couldn’t get any work done today…thoughts ran through his head all day. Pam was engaged, and has been for a year, he should have been done helping out his parents, he should be back at school, he should be writing papers instead of tax forms, Pam was engaged…
“Actually, Angela,” Jim heard Pam saying, “Roy and I are going to visit my parents over the weekend. I don’t think I can make your party.”
Jim felt a twinge of jealousy.
“Fine,” Angela huffed, and she hurriedly left the office. Jim heard Pam giggling.
“Big plans this weekend, Beesly?” Jim asked, looking over at Pam and grinning.
“Actually, yeah. Roy is going to his sister’s in New Hampshire, and I have the house to myself,” Pam replied smiling.
“Wow, you just lied to Angela…you should feel terrible.”
Pam giggled, “I’m more of a dog person…but I’ve been meaning to ask you…why are you still here?”
“I just needed to get some work done. My mind has been fuzzy all day,” Jim said, scratching his head. Pam looked concerned.
“What’s wrong?” Pam asked, getting up from her desk, and sitting at Dwight’s desk.
“Well,” Jim started, “Truthfully, I didn’t think I would be here for this long.”
“It’s only been a year, Jim. I’ve been here for three years already,” said Pam, tipping one of Dwight’s bobble heads.
“Yeah, but…I thought I would be back in school by now, you know? My parents want me to move out, because they think it’s humiliating for a twenty-three year old guy to still be living with his parents, but I just want to help them out. They’re still struggling, and I don’t know how I’d feel about going back to school knowing they’re struggling,” Jim said. It felt nice to let it out, but he still hadn’t let it all out.
“I understand, and I think it’s really sweet. You’re not stuck here, Jim. Things will get better,” Pam said, smiling at Jim. Jim gazed into her warm eyes, and he felt his lips forming a smile. She was so contagious.
“Thanks…” Jim said, getting back to work.
“No problem. So are you almost done?”
“No, I just gotta…” Jim said, putting on a concerned face, “All right, I’m done.”
Pam smiled. “Any plans tonight?”
“Well, I originally planned to hang out with my buddy Mark to look for a place, but it’s a little too late for that,” Jim said, shrugging. “There’s always tomorrow.”
“Oh,” said Pam. Was that a look of relief in her eyes? “Are you hungry?”
“Yeah, you?”
“Yeah…do you want to order a pizza? I kind of like being alone in the office. Michael and Dwight aren’t here…” Pam giggled.
“Yeah, sounds great,” Jim said smiling.
“Great!” Pam cried happily, getting up to order a pizza.
Jim and Pam were both laughing as they ate their pizza. They had been playing “marry, do, kill” for the last twenty minutes.
“Okay, Michael, Stanley, Dwight,” Jim said grinning at Pam. Pam looked disgusted.
“Come on, Halpert! A girl’s trying to eat here!”
“Play by the rules, Beesly, play by the rules.”
“Fine. Kill Dwight, do Michael, and marry Stanley.”
Jim threw his head back as he laughed.
“What?” Pam cried, “those were terrible options!”
“I know, Beesly, that’s the point of the game,” Jim said, still laughing.
“Okay, fine. Marry, do, kill: Angela, Kelly, Meredith.”
“Oooh, Beesly, you’re turning up the heat!”
“Quit stalling,” Pam said, grinning as Jim was wearing a look of concentration on his face.
“Um…I’d kill Angela because she called you a hussy—“
“Thank you,” Pam said, giggling.
“I’d do Kelly, and I’d marry Meredith,” Jim said, and at this, Pam burst into a fit of giggles. “What?”
“You’d marry Meredith?”
“Yeah, she seems nice enough,” Jim said shrugging. “It’s just a game…”
“Yeah, I know…” Pam said getting up, holding out her hand, “Come here.”
“Okay,” Jim said, getting up, following Pam to Meredith’s desk.
Pam opened one of the drawers, and Jim was surprised to see three empty bottles of tequila.
“Wow,” Jim said, surprised.
“Yeah,” Pam said, giggling. “You sure you don’t want to change your mind?”
“No, Pam, because I, unlike you, play by the rules,” Jim said, chuckling. They walked back to Jim’s desk, and Pam sat on the edge.
“So my turn…ummm…Kevin, Devon, Creed.” Jim said.
“This game’s getting old, don’t you think?”
“Yeah,” Jim agreed, “but you still have to answer. This will be the last one.”
“Kill Creed, he creeps me out, do Devon, and marry Kevin,” Pam said.
“All right, well, that’s done…” Jim said, smiling.
“So what were you studying?” Pam asked, absent mindedly twirling her ring.
“In school?” Pam nodded, “Well, I was an English major. I either wanted to be a teacher or a sports writer.”
“I always pictured you as an engineer or something…”
“Do I really look that nerdy?” Jim asked smiling.
“No,” said Pam, smiling, “that’s just how I saw you is all…”
“Yeah. What about you? What did you want to do?”
Pam blushed.
“I always wanted to be a teacher too…an art teacher, or an artist, or a graphic designer…”
“What kept you from doing that?” Jim asked.
“Oh, you know…little things. Roy and I moved in when I was eighteen, and we moved here to Scranton, and I got a job here. I don’t really have time for art classes, you know? Plus, Roy said it was a waste of time…” Pam said shyly.
“Roy said that?” Jim asked, immediately feeling sorry that he said it.
Pam didn’t say anything, she just kept twirling her ring. Jim could feel his face getting hot.
“Sorry,” Jim whispered.
“It’s cool. I mean, I’ve dated Roy since I was sixteen, and he just kind of stuck, you know? He’s nice, sometimes he can be obnoxious, but he’s gotta good heart,” Pam explained.
“Yeah, I can see that…” Jim lied. Pam looked at Jim. Jim couldn’t read her gaze. Did she want him to say something?
“What was your worst date?” Pam asked Jim, changing the subject. Jim smiled.
“Um…” Jim started. He thought about his date with Pam. It was great, but finding out she was engaged kind of ruined it all. It wasn’t her fault, but still…
“Come on, Halpert,” Pam said, shoving Jim’s shoulder playfully.
“All right, my freshman year at college, I was set up on a blind date, and I was pretty excited. But it turns out, she’s like five years older than me, and she gets WASTED!” Jim laughs.
“Really?” Pam cried laughing.
“Yeah, and then she starts to cry about her ex. And I was eighteen, I had no idea how to handle a situation like that, and I was scared, Beesly, I was scared…” Jim said. Pam started to laugh.
“I’m sorry, Jim, but my worst date totally trumps yours…”
“Oh really? How so?”
“Okay, it was at a minor league hockey game, I was bored out of my mind,” Pam started, but it hit Jim. He already knew what she was going to say before she said it. “And when the game was over, I went to the bathroom, and he just left me there. He forgot all about me.”
Jim didn’t say anything, but Pam didn’t notice; she was actually laughing. Jim remembered when he was sixteen. God, it felt so long ago. He remembered the crying girl. He remembered giving her his jacket. He remembered joking around with her even then. But did she remember?
“I think,” Pam continued, wiping a tear from her eye from laughing so hard, “The only good thing that came out of that night was, some guy loaned me his jacket…I can’t remember his name though.”
“Hm,” was all Jim could say. He wanted to say “His name was Jim” but he couldn’t. He couldn’t help but feel a little hurt, but in her defense, he forgot all about that night until now.
They sat in silence for awhile. Jim stared blankly at his computer screen which was turned off. Pam stared straight ahead into Michael’s office. Thoughts were running through both of their heads. Jim was hoping that Pam would remember who the boy was, and Pam was trying her best to try to remember the boy. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t remember. She couldn’t even put a face to him. She wondered where that boy was now…probably with a nice girl. He was probably treating her very well. Pam didn’t know that the boy who had comforted her, and made her laugh when she was sad, was sitting right next to her. And then, they stared at each other. A warm feeling rushed into both of their chests, their hearts were beating.
What’s going on? Why am I feeling like this?
Without thinking, they both stood up in unison, not breaking their gaze into each other. Pam leaned closer to Jim, and Jim felt his arms wrapping around Pam’s waist. He had no control of them, but he didn’t care. It was automatic. Pam’s face was closer to Jim’s face. She can count the stubble on his face if she chose to. Her eyes were closed, and Jim leaned in. He felt her warm lips, and her hands on the side of his face. He felt her soft hair in his fingers. He felt his heart beating rapidly…
“Oh my god,” Pam said quickly, “I’m sorry.” But she wasn’t.
“No, I am,” Jim said, but he wasn’t.
“I should go…” She didn’t want to.
“Yeah, no, I mean, it’s getting late.” No it wasn’t.
“See you on Monday, Jim,” Pam said, quickly walking towards the door.
“Bye, Pam,” Jim said, but he wasn’t sure she could hear him.
Pam walked outside, towards Roy’s truck, brought her fingers to her lips, and smiled. But the smile quickly faded, as she realized that on Sunday night, it won’t be Jim coming home to her. It would be Roy.
Jim still stood at his desk. He was dazed, his knees trembling, his heart pounding. He didn’t know whether or not to be elated or upset. He was both. They kissed. The girl that he fell for since he was sixteen kissed him. He couldn’t believe that Pam was that girl from the hockey rink. The cute, yet sad girl, wearing a black turtle neck, sitting alone on a bench, cold…Jim finally came to his senses, and he couldn’t help but smile.
Maybe it didn’t mean anything to her, but it means the world to me, Jim thought, as he picked up his messenger bag, and left the office.
May, 2008
Jim shook his head, and realized that he was still in Michael’s office.
“Look,” Jim started, “all I'm saying is that you can get to know someone really really well, like I did, right here at work.”
Jim walked out of Michael’s office. He was grinning from ear to ear. He had a plan.
“I was thinking... fireworks for the party,” Jim told Phyllis who looked exhausted, “What do you think?”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Jim and Pam stay late at the office one night to finish up some work. They decide to play Marry, Do, Kill.
Slight spoilers for "Goodbye, Toby."
I'm trying to get these stories finished soon, because I'm going to be going on vacation soon. So hopefully, I'll be able to write a few more chapters.
Please review and rate! It makes me feel special.
Slight spoilers for "Goodbye, Toby."
I'm trying to get these stories finished soon, because I'm going to be going on vacation soon. So hopefully, I'll be able to write a few more chapters.
Please review and rate! It makes me feel special.
Chapter End Notes:
Let's just pretend that Jim and Pam's first kiss wasn't at the Dundies...
Next up, Holly and Michael's first date.
Next up, Holly and Michael's first date.
