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Author's Chapter Notes:
I’m posting this *just* after midnight so I technically broke my daily posting streak, but maybe we can pretend I live in a different time zone and call it good. :) Enjoy!
It was the last class period of the day and Jim was in the middle of a discussion about Of Mice and Men. Noticing a sleeping student on the third row, he casually strolled over to the bookshelf next to him while continuing the discussion with the rest of his class.

“Okay, so let’s talk about the characters in the book.”

He grabbed a large dictionary from the shelf and continued.

“If you had to pick just one central character,” he turned around and walked toward the slumbering student’s desk, “do you think you would pick Lennie—“

WHAM! He dropped the dictionary directly next to the student’s head on the desk, causing him to jump and fall right out of his chair.

“—or would you pick George? Welcome back, Mr. Palmer.”

The class snickered and Jim made his way back to the front of the room.

“I want all of you to think about that and write me one page about what you decide. Due next time we meet.”

The bell rang to dismiss the class and Jim smiled to himself among the squeaking of chairs and the rustling of backpacks. The end of the school day meant the start of his day with Pam.

They had both agreed that, for many reasons, it was best to keep their budding relationship quiet from their coworkers and especially from their students. They had both been in high school before, so the reasoning behind that was pretty obvious.

After most of the students had cleared his classroom and he had resolved the questions of the last few who had lingered past the bell, he sat down at his desk and grabbed his phone, only to see a message from Pam.

Hey, want to go to the football game tonight? The quarterback is in my fourth period class and he somehow got me to promise that I would go because it’s the last game and I haven’t been to one all season.

Jim thought about it. He did love football, and in past years he made it a point to attend several games each season. But ever since he learned about Pam’s history with Roy, the coach, he hadn’t really felt like going. However, a night with Pam was better than a night without her, even if it meant looking at Roy stupid head all night. He started typing his reply.

Only if you buy the nachos.

Extra cheese? :)

He smiled.

“What’s her name?” a deep voice asked.

Jim lifted his head to see Darryl in the doorway.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, man,” Jim denied with a smile.

“Bull,” Darryl laughed. “Whatever, you don’t have to tell me. I just came to see if you had extra copies of the handout we made about argumentative essays.”

Jim opened his desk drawer and pulled out a stack of papers. “Sure, man. Here you go.”

Darryl walked over to him and took the papers. “Thanks.” He started out of the classroom. “Let me know if you ever want to tell me about your lady friend.” Jim could hear the smirk in his voice. He was sure Darryl noticed how much time he spent with Pam and how he ate lunch with her almost every day. Darryl had to know, so Jim was grateful his friend was claiming ignorance until he felt like he could tell him more.

He turned his attention back to his phone and typed a message.

Can I stop by your place and we can head over separately after that? I have something I want to give you.


***********

Jim got out of his car at Pam’s condo and briskly walked up to her door. He gave three knocks on her bright yellow door and smiled as he heard her run and swing it open.

“Hi.”

“Hey,” he beamed. He walked inside and she shut the door behind him.

“So, what did you want to give me?” she asked excitedly. She looked like a kid on Christmas morning.

He grabbed her around the waist and gave her a deep, lingering kiss. She melted into his arms and ran her fingers through the back of his hair with a slight sigh that sent a wave down his spine. Slowly, he backed her against the door and deepened his kiss further, cupping her face with his hands and running his fingers through her long curls. Finally, he pulled away from her lips and gave her a wry smile.

“That.”

“Well, then thank you,” she said with a heavy breath.

Jim reached into his bag at his hip. “Actually,” he said, “I really wanted to give you this.”

He handed her a fleece blanket with the ET Memorial logo on it, wrapped tight with a ribbon.

“I know it’s probably lame,” he started, “but the game might be cold and I thought it would be nice for you to have something to keep you warm, since, you know,” he shrugged. “I won’t be able to.”

She flashed him a smile. “It’s not lame, I love it. Thank you.”

He wrapped her in his arms.

“It’s hard enough for me to keep my hands off of you at work. Now I’ll have to sit on them all night in order to keep them off you at the game,” he said into her ear, then leaned back to look at her. “I mean, I know why we aren’t telling people. That’s the right thing to do. But I really like you, Beesly.”

She took his cheek in her hand and kissed him slowly. “I’ll make it up to you,” she whispered against his lips.

He closed his eyes as those words sank in. “Suddenly I hate football. You sure we have to go?” he whined.

She laughed and grabbed him by his ET Memorial jacket. “I’m sure. It will be fun! And I already promised you nachos.”

He laughed. “I forgot about that. Good point.”

He kissed her once more, smiled, and told her he would meet her at the game as he slipped out her door.

******

Jim arrived at the game about 10 minutes before Pam did and he did his best to spread out as wide as he could in the bleachers while he waited for her. He didn’t want to have to tell someone he was saving a seat for her but he needed to have room for Pam to sit when she got there and “casually ran into him”.

He spotted her walking up the metal stairs toward him, her new blanket in hand. She waved to him and made her way up to where he was sitting.

“Hello, Ms. Beesly.”

“Well, hello, Mr. Halpert. Can I sit here?” She winked at him.

Her nose and cheeks were already a little pink from the crisp autumn air and once again he was stuck by how beautiful she was. There was such a warmth about her and for a brief second he thought he may actually be in love. It was probably too soon to tell her that, though, so he shook off the thought.

“Just so you know,” Pam said. “You’re going to have to explain every last detail about football to me. Because I know nothing. Except touchdown.” She looked at him worriedly. “It’s called a touchdown, right?”

He laughed. “Yes, you are correct. I figured you would know the rules a little bit. What with—“ he couldn’t get himself to even say Roy’s name.

She shook her head. “No, he was always playing. I just came and pretended I knew what was going on.”

Jim tried to figure out what it was about Roy that made his fists involuntarily clench. He was harmless enough. Sure, he was pretty dense and thought that life begins and ends with football, but he’d never done or said anything directly to Jim that should cause him to dislike him so much. He just. didn’t. like the guy.

Maybe it was because Jim knew exactly what type of guy Roy was. He had been surrounded by guys like Roy for so much of his life while playing sports. They partied, they took nothing seriously, bragged about the girls they got, and thought they were king of every castle. Jim may have been the starting point guard in high school, but he had consciously made an effort not to make basketball his entire life. His parents always taught him that people were always more important than the points he scored and to not let any relationship suffer because he was good at something like basketball. There was always more.

But it wasn’t just that. Jim had gotten to know Pam very well over the last few months. She was incredible. She was kind and thoughtful. She was funny in the smartest of ways. And Jim just knew that Roy never would have fully appreciated that about her and it made him mad. She deserved so much more than to just be a girl on the quarterback’s arm.

But he wasn’t going to spend his night with Pam thinking about Roy.

“I believe I promised you some nachos,” Pam said under her breath.

He chuckled. “You really don’t have to.”

“No!” she insisted. “I do have to. And I want to get a hot chocolate for myself anyway.”

She stood up and headed toward the concession stand next to the bleachers. When she returned, there was an odd expression on her face.

“Everything...okay?”

She nodded and let out a little bit of a laugh. “Yeah. But Toby Flenderson, she school counselor? Just asked me out.”

Jim accidentally broke the chip in his hands. “Oh?”

Pam looked over at him. “Yeah…”

“What did you say?”

She took a sip of her hot chocolate. “I, uh, told him that now wasn’t really a good time to date due to things going on in my personal life.”

Jim’s eyebrows furrowed. “What things—“ Then suddenly understood what she meant. He looked around to see if any of the parents who were sitting next to them were paying attention to their conversation. He pointed to himself and mouthed Who, me?

She grinned. “Yes, you. I kind of felt bad turning him down. He looked so...sad. Like a puppy.”

“It’s the eyes. Gets you every time,” Jim nodded.

“Right?!”

They laughed and continued watching the game. They made sure to leave a little distance between them on the bench so as not to raise too many suspicions, but as the night went on they had inched closer and closer.

“So what does that mean?” Pam asked, now completely huddled in her new blanket.

“It means that someone on the other team crossed the line of scrimmage before the ball was hiked, so we get to move five yards closer to the end zone.”

“That’s good right?”

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “Definitely good.” He could tell she was trying so hard to understand and be a good student of the game and it was just so damn adorable. He didn’t care if she knew what holding meant or how many points a safety was worth. But he was more than happy to educate her if it meant he got to watch her concentrated face scrunch up and hear her little whoops and hollers when she knew something good happened.

The game ended with a victory for the ET Memorial Vikings and the crowd began shuffling out of the stands as the marching band played the school song.

“That was really fun, actually!” Pam admitted. “It was almost like being back in high school again, only this time I understood what was going on.”

They reached the bottom of the stairs and Jim quickly grabbed Pam’s hand and stealthily pulled her under the bleachers before anyone could see them. They were almost completely hidden from sight and Jim could only dimly see Pam’s face lit up by the small streams of light that were poking through the cracks in the bleachers. He smiled and put his lips firmly against hers. She wrapped her hands around his neck and met his kiss with a little more intensity. Her lips parted and he felt her tongue hot against his. It took everything in him not to let out a moan and give away their secret hiding spot. He snaked his arms around her waist and hugged her body tight against his. They broke apart.

“Now it really feels like high school,” she snickered quietly.

And there was the image of Roy again. Kissing her under the bleachers after a football game. He tried so hard not to think about it and enjoy the fact that he was now with that girl and she was most definitely kissing him under the bleachers. But he would have been lying to himself if he said it didn’t affect him a little bit.

Because it was so dark, Pam didn’t seem to notice Jim’s mental train derailing.

“Meet me back at my place?” she asked with a sly look.

He kissed her softly and smiled. “Absolutely.”

********

Jim definitely wasn’t a virgin.

But after what he and Pam just did (three times) after immediately getting back from the game, he may as well have been one before tonight. He had never felt anything more intense, more indescribable, than finally getting to be with Pam. They had waited longer than either of them probably would have liked because life was busy and demanding and there was always something that came up that prevented them from discovering every inch of each other. But not anymore. Now Jim felt like he had every curve, every part of her, memorized under his fingertips.

Now they sat together in her bathtub, Pam’s back against Jim’s chest. He kissed her dewy shoulder and wrapped his arms tighter around her. He wasn’t sure what time it was, but it was sometime in the hazy middle of being very late and very early. But they didn’t have to go to work tomorrow (today?) so he didn’t care.

“What’re you thinking about, Halpert?” she hummed lazily.

“You.”

She stroked his forearm with her fingertip as they sat there with no noise except the sound of small droplets falling back into the water they sat in. He kissed her temple.

He frowned slightly and lowered his voice. “And how jealous I am that Roy Anderson got to kiss you under the bleachers before I did.”

She let out an audible laugh. “I think these high schoolers are rubbing off on you.”

“What?” he laughed.

“I don’t know. It’s just kind of cute to see you so jealous. Especially of a guy who I dated a decade ago who means absolutely nothing to me now.”

She turned over so she could look at him.

“Jim. He means nothing to me. Just a high school boyfriend who still thinks he’s the big man on campus. Okay?” She sat up and wrapped her legs around him, grateful she opted for her oversized tub when buying the condo.

“Okay,” he said quietly with a smile.

“Roy never got to do this…” she murmured against the skin below his ear. “...in my tub…” She lightly nipped his ear with her teeth and he groaned. “...over and over…”

And with that, his fingers continued to commit more of her to their memory until the water ran cold and they finally retreated to her bed for the night.
Chapter End Notes:
Your reviews give me life! I have plans to write these crazy kids all the way through the end of the school year and your kind words give me the motivation to do that.

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