“Hey, did you make this?” I asked Pam the next morning, holding up one of those things that girls wear on their heads to keep their hair back…I think it’s called a hair band? I don’t know. But it was pretty cool; there were feathers and stuff on it.
“Yeah, when I was like five,” Pam laughed, still laying in her bed.
“Wow…that’s impressive,” I said, scanning through her paintings that she had hung on the wall. “And you did all these?”
“Yeah,” Pam replied. “They’re not that great…”
“What are you talking about? These are amazing!” I said, examining a sketch of an old woman at a park feeding pigeons. “Seriously…they’re great.”
“You think so?”
“I know so…” I said, turning to smile at Pam. I held the hair band or whatever it was called up. “Hey, Pam…I want you to draw me wearing this…and only this.”
“Wow…” Pam laughed. “Whatever you say, Rose…”
“You know you want to,” I said, getting into the bed with Pam.
“I’m not going to lie, Jim, you do have a good body,” Pam said, kissing me.
“Yours isn’t so bad either,” I smiled. “But you’re going to have to draw me some other time. You should hop in the shower, I got some plans for us today…”
“Ooh, really? What are we going to do?” Pam asked, looking excited.
“That’s a surprise,” I said, tapping her nose with a finger.
“Fine, be a jerk,” Pam huffed, acting like I had hurt her feelings.
“Just get in the shower,” I laughed.
“Fine,” she said, getting up.
While Pam was in the shower, I quickly drove over to a convenience store down the street from her house. I bought some lunch meat, some juice, a small bag of ice, and a small icebox. Then I drove back to her house, and made a couple of ham and cheese sandwiches. When Pam got out of the shower, she looked surprised.
“What’s all this?” she asked, looking around at the icebox.
“We’re going on a trip,” I smiled. “My sister in law’s family has a beach house in Jersey…I called her earlier, and she said it’s cool if we stay there for a day.”
“Really?” Pam smiled, looking excited.
“Yup, so you should get some stuff packed,” I told her. “I’m going to run to Tom’s house real quick, and grab some of my things…”
“Okay,” Pam said, grinning widely.
“I’ll be right back,” I grinned, running out of Pam’s house.
*****
“Do you want some gas money?” Pam offered as we were driving on our way to New Jersey.
“Nah, it’s fine…it was my idea.”
“Yeah, but gas is pretty expensive…”
“It’s fine, Pam,” I laughed.
“Weird question, but where do you get your money from? Do you deal drugs on the side? Run a prostitution ring?”
“Both,” I chuckled. “Actually, I saved up a lot of money while I worked at Staples, and when my grandma passed, she left me some money…”
“Oh…um…that’s…”
“Yeah,” I shrugged. “We were close, but she was pretty sick. I’m sure she’s in a better place.”
“Yeah…see? There’s so much I don’t know about you!” Pam exclaimed.
“What do you want to know?”
“What’s your middle name?” Pam asked.
“Andrew…”
“Um…what’s the one thing you can’t do in front of anyone?”
“I think that one’s obvious, Pam…” I winked. She looked confused for a second, and then she made a disgusted face.
“Gross!” she said, slapping my arm.
“I was going to say that I can’t sing in front of anyone,” I laughed. “I don’t know what you were thinking…”
“Sure you were…” Pam giggled. “So you can’t sing in front of anyone?”
“I can’t,” I replied. “I don’t know…it’s not my thing, I guess.”
“Come on,” Pam said. “Singing isn’t so bad…”
“It is for me.”
“Oh, Jim, you are my little gentleman! I want to take you to foggy London town because you are my gentleman!” Pam sang.
“Wow…you’re a dork,” I laughed. “Anymore questions?”
“Yeah,” Pam nodded. “This is a really personal question, so if you don’t want to answer it, I understand.”
I took my eyes off the road for a second to see Pam giving me a sincere look, and I nodded.
“There’s no right way of asking this, so I’m just going to say it,” Pam said, taking a deep breath. “Are you a dog person or a cat person?”
I let out a laugh. “Oh, man…way to back me into a corner, Pam,” I said in a serious tone. “Definitely a dog person. What about you?”
“A dog person…dogs are the best,” Pam replied. “I want a Scottish Terrier so bad…and I will name him Patrick.”
“That’s cute,” I chuckled. “I used to have a Scottie…I called her Chewie…short for Chewbacca.”
“Aw…” Pam giggled. “So you’re a Star Wars nerd?”
“No,” I replied. “I just like the movies…”
“Sure…you probably have a Princess Leia poster in your room, and you do unspeakable acts with it.”
“You’re gross,” I laughed.
“So you’re not denying it then?” Pam asked, grinning widely.
“To be honest, she wasn’t my type,” I replied.
“Oh, so what’s your type? Ooh! Which celebrity would you do?”
“Zooey Deschanel,” I replied, not having to think. Zooey Deschanel was gorgeous.
“Who?”
“Come on, the girl from Elf?”
“Oh, her? She looks so plain…”
“That’s why I like her,” I said, passing a slow moving truck. “Who would you do?”
“Jake Gyllenhaal…”
“Donnie Darko?”
“Yes, sir…you should have seen him Jarhead…” Pam said, pretending to squirm in her seat. “Hot damn!”
“Oh…”
“You’re hotter though,” Pam chuckled, taking my hand for reassure me that I was. She was so sweet…
*****
About three and half hours later, we finally reached the beach house. Wow, it was bigger than I remembered…I had only been there once before with Tom and my other brother Pete to go surfing.
“I thought you said it was a little beach house…” Pam said, looking up at the tall house. “This is pretty big…”
“I remembered it being smaller…” I said, scratching my head. Was I even at the right house? “Maybe they renovated it, or something.”
“What exactly do Linda’s parents do?” Pam asked, getting out of my car.
“Well, her dad’s a plastic surgeon, and he runs his own practice,” I replied, grabbing our bags from the trunk. “But this could be the wrong house…”
“Should you call Linda?”
“Nah, if the key doesn’t work, then obviously it’s the wrong house,” I laughed, walking up to the front door. I inserted the key and turned. The door popped open. “Looks like it’s the right house,” I smiled.
Pam and I both let out a whistle when we stepped in. The house had hardwood floors, nice white leather couches, and a big kitchen. Yeah, Linda’s parents definitely fixed the place up.
“Wow, Jim,” Pam grinned. “This place is…wow…”
“Yeah…look out the back,” I said, pointing to a sliding glass door. “The beach is right there…”
“Very nice,” Pam beamed. “Maybe I should give up art and become a plastic surgeon.”
“No,” I said seriously. “You’re good at what you do…”
“Aw, gee, Jim, thanks,” Pam giggled, giving me a kiss. “I wish I brought my sketchbook…”
“Ten bucks says there’s a Wal-Mart around here somewhere,” I laughed. “Want to go see?”
“Sure,” Pam said. “But we should put our stuff away…”
“Yeah, we should check out the bedrooms…there are probably about a thousand in here,” I laughed.
“That could be a good thing,” Pam said, looking out the window. “Because I see about three guys out there, and they look pretty good…”
“Oh, I see how it is,” I said, acting hurt. “Well, I should get back to Scranton then…”
“Aw, Jim, I was only kidding,” Pam said, giving me a tight hug. “You’re the best looking guy in the whole wide world!”
“That’s funny…I say that every time I see myself in the mirror,” I joked.
Pam and I went upstairs, and dumped our things in the first room that we found. We then walked around the boardwalk to look for an art supply store. Pam found a store called the Renaissance Group, and I bought her a new sketchbook, some charcoals, and some colored pencils.
“You really didn’t have to pay for these…” she said, looking up at me with a sad expression. I bent down and kissed her nose.
“It’s no big deal,” I shrugged, looking down at my watch—4:00. “Do you want an early dinner? Are you hungry?”
“Yeah, I’m starving,” Pam said, rubbing her stomach. “What’s good here?”
*****
Pam sat out on the deck, her sketchbook on her lap, drawing the ocean shore. Her face was full of concentration, and on occasion, she would glance up from her sketchbook, bite her bottom lip, and look up at the ocean. She was adorable. I was listening to Arcade Fire’s Funeral album on my iPod, and reading Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince. I don’t care if people think I’m dorky, Harry Potter is awesome. Pam poked my rib with a pencil.
“Are you done?” I asked, taking my headphones out of my ears. “Let me see…”
“It’s not that great,” she said shyly, handing her sketchbook over to me. Her drawing was wonderful…she had caught all the different shades of blue from the ocean, the sand looked like real sand, and it was just incredible.
“Pam, this is awesome,” I smiled. “Seriously…you’re going to do great things…”
“Whatever,” Pam laughed, taking the sketchbook from me. “Quit being all sweet…”
“I’m being serious!” I laughed. “Pam, you’re great…you have more talent in your left pinky toe then I have in my whole body.”
“I don’t know, Jim…I mean, after last night…” Pam giggled. “But…don’t put yourself down like that, Jim. I’m serious.”
“I don’t put myself down,” I said, shrugging.
“I’m just saying, you’re a talented guy,” Pam smiled. “You’re good at almost everything.”
“Aw, shucks,” I said, pretending to blush. I got up, and pulled Pam up, and grabbed a blanket off of a chair. “Let’s go for a walk…there’s barely anyone on the beach.”
Pam and I walked along the shoreline. The cold water hit our shins as the sand tickled our feet. The sun was set, the sky was dark blue. Pam leaned against me as we walked with my arm wrapped around her waist. Even Heaven couldn’t be this good.
“So, I was thinking,” Pam said quietly. “You have a pretty nice voice…like when you talk. It’s all deep and soothing.”
“Thanks,” I chuckled. “The ladies usually call me Barry White…”
“Anyway,” Pam giggled, gently ramming into me. “I bet you have a good singing voice…”
“Too bad you’re never going to hear it,” I told her. “I don’t even sing in the shower; unless I know that no one’s home.”
“Aw…I just wanna hear you sing, Jim…”
“Maybe in another life…” I laughed. “Dude, so while you were drawing, I finished reading Harry Potter…and Harry got with Ron’s sister.”
“And I care why?” Pam laughed. “Harry Potter is for losers…”
“Well, I guess I’m the coolest loser in the world,” I retorted. “I just thought you should know…”
“Wow, you’re such a dork, Jim.”
“What can I say? I like to read…”
“That’s why you’re an English/Journalist major…duh…”
“Yeah,” I shrugged. “I don’t know if I want to get into journalism…I think I might just stick with English. It would be cool to be a teacher…”
“Or a writer,” Pam suggested. I shook my head.
“I have nothing to write about, Pam,” I replied.
“I’m sure you do.”
“Actually, I have thought about it,” I admitted. “Hey do you want to sit here?”
“Sure,” Pam replied. I laid the blanket down across the sand, and waited for Pam to sit. “What would you want to write about?” Pam asked when she had sat down.
“For some reason, I’m a sucker for sad stories,” I said, resting my head on Pam’s lap. “Like those incredibly crazy, sad stories…”
“Weirdo,” Pam laughed. I loved the way she brushed my hair back with her hand. “Do you have any ideas?”
“A few,” I replied, taking my iPod out of my pocket, and handing an ear bud to Pam. “But it’s pretty dark, morbid stuff…”
“Let’s hear it,” Pam said, putting the ear bud in her ear. I played the playlist of the mix I had made for Pam earlier in the week.
“Essentially, the story is about a guy that lost both of his parents right before he turned eighteen. He lived with his abusive uncle for awhile, and when he turned eighteen, he goes off to college. He goes through some crappy relationships throughout the years, and blah blah blah…then eventually, he meets the girl of his dreams. But he gets a brain tumor, and he has a seizure while he’s at the girl’s house. She tries to drive him to a hospital, but on the way, they get rammed by a drunk driver…she dies, but he lives, and he refuses to get surgery. Pretty much, that’s all I have,” I said.
“Sounds pretty dark,” Pam said, stroking my hair. “But that’s definitely a book that I’d read.”
“You’re probably the only one,” I laughed.
“You should definitely write it…maybe add some humor in there.”
“For sure,” I chuckled. “If I ever write it, and for some reason it gets published, I want you to do the cover art.”
Pam giggled. I sat up, and wrapped my arms around her.
“Hey, Jim?”
“Hey, Pam?”
“I really liked today…I loved it, actually…”
“I loved it too, Pam.”
“Thanks for taking me here.”
“Thank you for coming with me.”
“Who sings this song?” Pam asked.
“Iron and Wine,” I replied. “It’s called ‘Sea and the Rhythm.’”
“It’s pretty…”
“I concur,” I said, taking a deep breath. I had never done this before, but she wanted to hear me sing….what I’m about to do will probably be the most embarrassing moment of my life:
“Tonight, we're the sea and
the rhythm there
the waves and the wind and night is black
tonight we're the scent of your
long black hair
spread out like your breath
across my back
Your hands they move like waves over me
beneath the moon, tonight, we're the sea”
Pam giggled. “Wow…that was….uh…sweet.”
“Shut up,” I laughed, my face burning. “I told you that I have a terrible voice.”
“Yeah…but it wasn’t that bad,” Pam said, kissing me. “You were somewhere between William Hung and Bjork.”
“I hate you.”
“No you don’t.”
“Nah,” I said, holding Pam tighter. “I really don’t.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Jim does something for Pam that he's never done before...not even in the shower...
Chapter End Notes:
I wish you guys could have heard how I imagined Jim singing...
But anyway, let me know what you guys think! They only have two more days left together...
But anyway, let me know what you guys think! They only have two more days left together...
