Over the next couple of years Pam got settled into a routine. She’d found a lifeline at work in the new salesman (well, by now no longer new new, but newer) Jim, whom she’d quickly stopped thinking of purely as a coworker and begun to think of as a work friend, or even just a friend. He was smart and funny and without him she wasn’t sure she’d get through the workday. At home, things with Roy continued on. They lived together, they were engaged, and that was basically it. He spent a lot of time in front of the TV or out with his warehouse buddies (or old high school friends who had stuck around like him); she spent a lot of time online expressing herself to WScranton8. It was like she lived three lives in one, and since two out of three were pretty OK, she felt pretty good about her life. If anything was wrong in her relationship with Roy, she told herself that was just how real life worked. Of course she and Scranton, or she and Jim, could talk for hours or finish each other’s thoughts. They didn’t have to deal with the baggage of reality, of finding a toilet seat up or making lasagna just like his mother made or remembering to do groceries. Jim was just another Scranton: a dear, dear friend who kept her sane. Roy was real life.
This particular day was terrible. Michael’s fake firing had really destroyed her more than she wanted to admit—she’d cried at work for the first time in a long time—and she needed some release. Roy had insisted them come right home, which sucked because of course now Roy was camped out in front of…she wasn’t sure what. College basketball maybe, which was ironic seeing as he’d never had interest in college anything when she was enrolled in it. He was in such a hurry to get home but they never did anything when they were. Real life, she guessed, wasn’t always so great.
WScranton8: hey, how’s it going?
MorganLaFey: don’t ask. I don’t want to talk about it.
WScranton8: um, ok
WScranton8: how’s it not going?
MorganLaFey: great :-)
MorganLaFey: I wanted to go out tonight but it didn’t end up happening
MorganLaFey: and now I’m sitting here as usual
WScranton8: hey, don’t knock sitting here!
WScranton8: after all, if you weren’t sitting here, you wouldn’t be with me
WScranton8: though now that I type it I see why you would knock it
WScranton8: terrible fate
MorganLaFey: :-P
MorganLaFey: you know that’s not what I meant
MorganLaFey: but speaking of that, why aren’t you out painting the town red?
WScranton8: what am I, a wild west cowboy?
WScranton8: I’ll paint the town red after I put on my spurs and gunbelt and round up the cattle
WScranton8: hit up the saloon and let them slide a beer stein down to me
MorganLaFey: shut up
WScranton8: :-)
WScranton8: I was supposed to go out for drinks with some coworkers but I ended up bailing
WScranton8: so instead I was sitting here feeling sorry for myself until you came along
WScranton8: so thanks for that, you messed up a good wallow
MorganLaFey: likewise
MorganLaFey: any exciting wallow-free plans for the week?
WScranton8: not much. Gotta go grocery shopping tomorrow, that’ll be a treat.
MorganLaFey: anything fun on the list?
WScranton8: I think the most fun thing on it is jello
MorganLaFey: jello?
WScranton8: hey, it’s a multi-use food staple that never goes bad
MorganLaFey: oh, I know, trust me
MorganLaFey: I love me some jello.
MorganLaFey: though not as much as this guy I know…
WScranton8: oh really? I bet he doesn’t love it as much as I do
MorganLaFey: I don’t think you’re going to win this one
MorganLaFey: my guy is really into jello
WScranton8: well, get him online sometime
WScranton8: we can find an empty chatroom and have a jello-off
MorganLaFey: lol
WScranton8: after all, any friend of yours is worth meeting even if I do destroy him with my jello domination
MorganLaFey: jello domination?
MorganLaFey: now you’re starting to sound like my coworkers
WScranton8: oh dear. Can’t have that
WScranton8: quick, change the topic!
MorganLaFey: j/k you’re nothing like them
MorganLaFey: but what else is on the list
WScranton8: nothing much
WScranton8: meat, cheese, canned tomatoes, canned beans, flour
MorganLaFey: someone’s really out of groceries
WScranton8: bread, coffee, beer, fabric softener
WScranton8: yeah, I’m a little low, it’s been a long week
MorganLaFey: wait, fabric softener?
WScranton8: …yes?
MorganLaFey: lol
WScranton8: oh come on! I like my clothes fresh and comfy!
WScranton8: is that a crime?
MorganLaFey: I just never saw you as a fabric softener kind of guy
WScranton8: so I’m a guy who hates comfort?
MorganLaFey: clearly ;-)
WScranton8: thanks so much for your good opinion, it means a lot
MorganLaFey: :-P
MorganLaFey: anytime
