Pam arrived at Jim’s apartment around 7, even though he had told her it would start at 6:30, she didn’t want to be the first one there. She rung the doorbell and a man answered, and introduced himself as Jim’s roommate, Matt. She walked in, hung her jacket on the coatrack as instructed. She was shown the drink table, she poured herself a glass of wine and surveyed the few faces in the room, her eyes landing on Jim, he waved, ended the conversation he was having and walked over to Pam.

“Welcome to my humble abode.”

“ Thank you. It is quite nice.”

“Hold on a second, I have something for you. Let me go get it, before I forget.”

Jim walked to the hallway and ducked into a room, a few seconds later he came back and handed her an envelope, with “Pam” carefully written in the middle.

“It’s from my niece.”
“Oh, wow!”

She carefully opened the envelope, pulled out a card with “Thank you!” written in careful calligraphy across the front, and plenty of artfully placed color. She opened the card and read what was inside:

Dear Pam,

I wanted to thank the person who helped my clueless uncle find the perfect gift

as soon as I opened it I knew he had to have had help. So thank you so much for respecting me as a young artist and instructing him to buy the perfect pencils, and

Paper.

Many thanks,

Vanessa

Pam was very impressed by the neat cursive writing from a 13 year old.

A man, that Pam recognized as Dwight from the night at the bar, interjected on their conversation.

“When is Michael getting here?”

“Any minute now.” Jim stated after quickly glancing at his watch.

Dwight walked away without noticing Pam.

“How did Vanessa know you would see me again?”

“I actually have no idea….Maybe she has some strong intuition.”

“She does seem like a smart and sophisticated person for a 13 year old. Well I don't want to hog you all night, go socialize with your other guests.”

“I see these people everyday, I want to talk to you.”

“Well at least introduce me to people so it doesn't seem like you just had this party so you could talk to me again.” Pam giggled.

“Well aren't you smart. You figured it out my plan.” Jim said jokingly, to not let on that she had in fact just joked about his plan.

Just then Dwight shouted “Surprise!” and Jim doubled over in giggles.

“I told him it was a surprise party for Michael.”

“Well this will make him upset.”
Dwight came up to Jim, this time he nodded at Pam, and said, “ This wasn't a surprise party for Michael!”

“No it wasn't. Anyway, this is Pam.”

Dwight shook her hand firmly. “Dwight K.Schrute, assistant regional manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton, and Beet Farmer.”

“To the” Jim said. And Dwight walked away.

“Well that was Dwight, who else should you meet.”

“So you boinkin him?” A red-haired lady asked Pam

“Umm”

“Meredith, what was that? This is Pam.”

“Hey, it was a valid question.”

“Surprisingly I have friends outside of work.”

“Well it was a pleasure to meet you Meredith.” Meredith left to get another drink.

“You handled that with such grace.”

“One of my many good qualities.”

Jim saw Michael walking toward them, and he said, “ Here we go, my boss, big moment.”

“JIMBO, awesome party, and who is this pretty little lady?”

“ This is Pam.”

“Well, nice to meet you.” Michael said.

“ Nice to meet you to.”

Michael left to talk to (annoy) some other people.

“I am in awe.”

“What?”

“How are you so good at this?”

“Retail. My personality?” She shrugged.

“I have to go grab some ice for the drinks, wait here.”

“Ok”

Jim left her standing in the living room by the window. She glanced out the window and gasped at what she saw, Dwight and Angela talking, then kissing. She looked away and composed herself. She looked around and noticed that Jim had been pulled into a conversation with a few people that she hadn't met yet, so she started to look around. She went down the hallway and found Jim’s room. It was semi-neat, a few pictures of family, and a basketball poster. She sat down in his desk chair, and looked at his small bookshelf. She spotted a yearbook, and thought to herself, “This will be gold”. She opened it and flipped through the pages, and she reached the page with Jim’s class pictures, immediately found his and giggled.

“Oh no. no,non no.”

Pam looked up in surprise, “Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I got overwhelmed by all the people and needed to just take a minute.” She said as she closed the yearbook and stood up.

“That’s totally fine. So you found out how dorky looking I was in High School.”

“You were cute, I mean you still are, but you haven't known dorky until you know what I was like in High School. I wore paint stained clothes everyday, and spent every lunch break in the art room, painting.”

“That’s not dorky, that’s dedication.”

Pam smiled and giggled, “I’m glad you think that.”

In that moment Jim knew that she was it, she was his destiny, she was the only one he could imagine having the house with a white picket fence with.