“How much do you love me?”

Jim paused with a handful of chips shoved halfway into his mouth and looked down at the girl who was stretched out across his couch with her head in his lap. He let his gaze trail from her bare toes to the top of her head as he finished chewing.

He swallowed. “A decent amount,” he said, lifting one shoulder in a small shrug. He nodded to confirm his answer and then the football game came back on and he was again distracted.

Pam just nodded and settled her cheek against his leg, turning her own focus back to the game. Watching football with Jim was a much more pleasant experience than it had been with Roy; partly because Jim didn’t punch walls when his teams lost and mostly because he was very into celebrating their wins. With her. Usually naked.

So yeah. Football was great. She waited until the next time out before tapping his upper thigh and twisting to look up at him again. “Okay but, what quantifies a decent amount?”

“Well.” Jim stopped to take a drink of his beer. “I’d say that I love you enough to let you choose the pizza toppings tonight but not so much that I’d be willing to watch Hocus Pocus again.”

Pam grinned, remembering that she’d tricked him into watching that movie twice in as many days by claiming the first time hadn’t counted because it had been the TV version, and therefore edited for time and content. “You’re right,” she agreed. “You do love me a decent amount.”

“I really do.” He swatted her butt affectionately before sliding his hand just under her shirt to rub small circles at the base of her spine. There was another delay in the game and his fingers stilled, warm against her skin. “Hey Pam?”

“Hmm?”

“What am I missing here? Why are questioning my love for you?”

“Oh that.” She smiled and raised herself into a sitting position.  “I was just thinking about Mark and Penny’s Halloween party.”

Neither of them had expected anything to happen when after a month of dating, Jim’s best friend and Pam’s younger sister had joined them for a night of beers and bowling. As it turned out, and much to their initial discomfort, Mark and Penny hit it off fantastically and had been seeing each other ever since. It made sense in a weird sort of way, and they both had to admit that it was fun to have another couple to double with where they didn’t hate either of them. Even if it was weird.

“Mark and Penny’s party,” Jim repeated. “What about it?”

“Well, we’re going, right?”

“Of course we are.”

This was the chance she’d been waiting for. She sat up even straighter and looked him in the eye. “You do know that it’s a costume party, right?”

Jim sighed and turned back to the TV. “On the other hand, we could stay home and hand out candy that night. Oh! Or we could go to Mose’s corn maze. Even that would be more fun.”

“Stop it. Of course we’re going to the party.”

“Okay, but I hope you’re prepared to go dressed as a paper salesman and a receptionist.” He pointed down at her. “But the twist is, I’ll be the receptionist and you’ll be the salesman. Or salesgirl, if you want. We’ll really knock their socks off.”

“You’re hilarious. What if I told you that your costume would be really simple and practically like you were just wearing normal clothes?”

“Can I just wear my normal clothes?”

“No.”

“Then I’d say I don’t believe you.” Jim tried to turn back to the football game but Pam just crossed her arms in front of her and stared at him.

“Don’t you even want to know what my costume idea is?”

“Not really, no.” Based on the tone of his voice, she believed him, but Pam continued to stare at him until he had no choice but to face her again. “I’m just going to say no.” She still stared, a small smile hinting at the corners of her mouth. “Pam, come on. You know that I don’t do costumes.”

“But this is for me, Jim.” She smiled sweetly, fully, at him and placed a hand on his arm. “And you said so yourself, you love me a decent amount.”

He sighed heavily. “Okay fine. I’ll do it.”

She brightened. That had been easier than she thought. “You’ll dress up with me?”

“No.” Jim shook his head forcefully. “But I will watch Hocus Pocus again.” He laughed as she knocked him on the side of his head with a throw pillow. “Sorry, you set yourself up for that one.” He gestured back to the TV. “Look, not to be a total guy here, but there’s only two minutes left in this game. Can we wait until it’s done for me to tell you again that I’m not going to wear a costume?”

“Oh fine.” Pam drew his arm around her shoulders and tucked herself into his side and they both watched the final minutes of the game.

The Eagles won, so at least Jim was still in a good mood. She barely let him turn the TV off before she pounced on him again. “So, about our costumes.”

“Pam.” He gave her a long look before he relented. “Okay. What is it?”

She could hardly contain her glee. “Baby and Johnny from Dirty Dancing!”

“No.”

“We would be adorable.”

“No.”

“I could paint a pumpkin to look like a watermelon and carry it around all night.”

“No.”

“You wouldn’t even be wearing a real costume, Jim. We’re talking black pants and a really tight t-shirt. Maybe a little gel in your hair.”

“No.”

“Okay fine. Black dress pants, a black button down shirt and no hair gel.”

“Oh, no hair gel. Well in that case.”

“Really?”

“Nope.”

Pam made a face at him. “But I could wear a really cute cocktail dress and you could run around the party pulling me out of chairs and saying ‘nobody puts Pam in the corner.’”

“Mose’s corn maze is starting to sound better and better.”

“Jiiiiiim.”

“Paaaaam.” He adjusted his posture as she climbed into his lap. “How long have you known me?”

“Five years.” She slid her hands up his arms and over his shoulders. “What’s your point?”

“My point.” He paused, distracted as Pam bent her head to kiss his jawline. “Is that in all that time have you ever seen me make any effort at all for Halloween?”

“Well no,” she admitted before kissing the other side of his face. “But the difference is that I’ve never asked you to before. You see, you weren’t my boyfriend then. Now you are.”

“I don’t remember Halloween being part of the relationship contract.” He pulled back and raised an eyebrow at her. “In fact, I don’t remember signing a relationship contract. What kind of scam are you running here, Beesly?”

“No scam. I just thought you’d be a little more interested in keeping me happy, that’s all.”

“Uh-huh. You seem pretty happy right now.” His breath stuttered as she kissed down his neck, her teeth grazing lightly at his pulse point.

“Oh I am,” she assured him. She moved her head back up and pressed her lips to his. His mouth was salty under hers and she shivered a little as she decided their snack-filled, Sunday football watching kisses made it into their top five categories of making out. They were warm and familiar and she shifted her hips until she felt him pressed against her. “I’m very happy.” She leaned back and reached down to grasp the hem of his t-shirt, pulling it over his head and tossing it to the floor before kissing him again.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to seduce me into changing my mind.”

“Don’t be silly,” she mumbled against his mouth. “We can talk about that later. Right now, we’re celebrating the Eagles’ win.” She pushed her hips deliberately into his. “Like we do.” As expected, Jim didn’t argue with her. He just kissed her harder, his hands slipping up the sides of her shirt and grazing both sides of her breasts.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked as she pulled herself off of his lap.

“Nowhere, just getting rid of these.” She hooked her thumbs into her shorts and shimmied them down her legs and kicked them to the floor. They did what she had begun referring to as the sofa shuffle as Jim’s pants joined hers on the floor and then she was quickly climbing back into his lap.

It wasn’t long before he was sliding into her. She went to take off her own shirt, his shirt, actually, but he stopped her, muttering “leave it” against her lips. She’d learned over these last few months that as much as Jim loved her naked, he loved her more when she was wearing his faded cotton tees.

Their kisses were long and languid as they moved slowly and lazily against each other; neither of them feeling any need to rush things along.

She loved that they were the kind of couple who didn’t think twice about making love in the middle of the afternoon on the couch with the curtains open. Well okay, maybe she would have closed the curtains if she’d thought about it first but honestly, it kind of excited her knowing that they weren’t exactly hiding.

“You feel so good.” Pam’s fingers dug into Jim’s shoulders as he gripped her waist tighter and helped guide her movements over him. She rolled her hips and his head hit the back of the couch, silent curse words falling from his mouth.

She played with him, alternating between quick shallow thrusts and deep long ones with no rhyme or reason and it wasn’t long before he was bucking hard into her.

She was close, but he was closer. Her eyes fluttered when his thumb brushed against her lower lip and she parted them quickly, swiping her tongue against the rough skin. Then his hand was running down her body and his thumb was pressing into her and this time, she was the one swearing at him. Not so silently.  

Pam sighed and let her head rest on his shoulder as they each caught their breath. She was warm and sated and content and moving from Jim’s lap didn’t seem like something she needed to do. She definitely didn’t want to move. But she couldn’t lose sight of what needed to be done either.

Oh yes, she had a plan. He was crazy if he thought she letting go of Halloween that easily.

She picked her head up and stroked the side of his face. Jim just smiled sleepily at her and she couldn’t stop herself from reaching up to kiss him again. Her lips slid against his a little sloppily and soon she was tempted to forget her plans and lead him into the bedroom instead.

But no. She had a vision. And that vision was Dirty Dancing.

“Mmm, did you enjoy that?” she asked, her lips tickling his ear.

Jim’s laugh was a happy one with just a dash of disbelief around the edges. “How can you even ask questions like that? Looking for an ego boost? Because I’ll gladly give you one, Beesly. Five stars. Would definitely revisit again very soon.”

“I’m so happy you said that.” She kissed him once more and sat back to look up at him. “Are you willing to talk about Halloween costumes again?”

He shook his head and tapped her nose. “We can talk about it all you want, but my answer is still going to be no.”

“You’re sure about that?”

“I’m sure.”

“Final answer?”

“Final answer.”

“That’s too bad.” Her lips formed into a small pout. “I’m really going to miss this. But I get it; you’ve made up your mind.” She went to move from his lap but his hands held her in place as he frowned down at her.

“Miss what? What are you talking about?”

“Oh didn’t I tell you?” Pam batted her eyelashes at him. “I’m not going to have sex with you again until you agree to the costume.”

Jim’s worried look relaxed and he chuckled. “Good one, Bees. You had me scared there.”

“I’m not joking,” she insisted with a shake of her head.

“Yeah okay.” Jim faltered a little at the look on her face. “No, come on, Pam. You’re not seriously resorting to sexual blackmail over a stupid Halloween costume.”

“I really am.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “I love you a decent amount, Jim, but I really love Halloween.” She kissed him again, longer and slower and with enough tongue that he groaned and tried to pull her harder against him but she pulled back and wagged her finger at him.

Jim ran a hand through his hair and stared at her for a long time before he reached behind her to grab his beer bottle off of the coffee table. He offered it to her first but she declined so he took a long drink while still looking at her. She finally slid off of his lap and sat facing him, legs crossed and her hands in her lap.

“So, just so I have this straight.” He pointed the bottle at her. “What you’re telling me is that you’re not going to have sex with me again until I agree to dress up for a costume party?”

“That’s exactly what’s going on here.”

“And what happens if I stick to my guns and don’t dress up?”

She shrugged. “I mean, once Halloween’s over there won’t be any point to not sleeping with you but that’s two weeks away still. Do you really think you can resist me for two whole weeks?”

Jim laughed. “Now you’re being silly. We both know that you won’t last two weeks. I mean, come on, Pam. I’m pretty sure you won’t make it past tonight.” He winked at her. “You can’t ever keep your hands off of me. This is cute though.”

She grinned at him. “I guess we’ll see, won’t we?” She stretched and then stood up. “I’m going to go take a shower. Do I still get to pick the pizza toppings tonight?”

“Pepperoni and black olives?”

“And ham!” she called over her shoulder. Where she usually left the bathroom door open in case he decided to join her in the shower, today she shut it, and the lock echoed loudly in the small tiled room, startling her.

Pam felt pretty confident that this battle of wills would end before they even went to bed that night. She knew it was a stretch of imagination that either of them would be willing to forego sex willingly but she couldn’t help herself. She really wanted their first Halloween together to be a proper one, and to her that meant with a cute couples costume. She knew it wouldn’t be easy though, and she had completely expected him to put up somewhat of a fight but she had no doubt that by the end of the night, he’d agree to let her dress him up and they would spend the rest of the night not sleeping and they both would be completely exhausted by the time Monday rolled around.

She couldn’t have been more wrong. They’d watched a movie while eating dinner and then Jim pulled out a book he’d been reading and she worked on a sketch for one of her classes. It was perfectly normal evening, with the two of them stretched out on opposite ends of the couch, feet touching in the middle while the nightly news played in the background.

Nothing more was said about the costumes. As the night stretched on, Pam began to wonder if Jim was going to give her the go ahead or not.

Too soon, it was bedtime and they both made it through their nighttime routines like always and as they climbed into bed for the night, Pam was sure this was it. Jim was going to turn to her and tell her that he had changed his mind and they would have the time of their lives at the Halloween party.

Jim turned out the lamp next to the bed and turned to face her. He moved to the center of the bed and slid his arms around her. Their lips met in the darkness and she couldn’t stop the small sighs that escaped her lips as he properly kissed her goodnight.

“Love you.” He kissed her once more and then he was gone. He let go of her and turned onto his side, leaving her to stare at his back.

“Love you too.” Pam frowned. A streetlamp cast the faintest of beams through the curtains and in the shadows she could see that his body was shaking with silent laughter. She realized exactly what he was doing.

Okay fine. So this was how he wanted to play. She had known it would be a possibility but she hadn’t really believed he’d go the whole night without conceding to her. As much as she hated to admit it, she really hadn’t anticipated that this would go on for any real amount of time. But now as they lay facing away from each other instead of entwined together, she realized for the first time that perhaps she had made a mistake. This maybe wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought it would be. She was tempted to reach out for him again and tell him she was just kidding about the whole thing and that they could do whatever he wanted for the party.

She frowned. Except, it wouldn’t kill him to dress up for a few hours. It was hardly dressing up anyways. And she really, really loved costumes.

Jim could be stubborn, but so could she. She rolled over and they went to sleep on separate sides of the bed, barely touching in the middle.

So that was it then. This was war.