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Story Notes:
Starting a new story when I still have a major one in the works and another I haven't worked in almost a year. Still this should be fun.

Standard disclaimer applies.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Might as well get things going.

Roy let out a grunt as he shoved the last box back onto the overturned pallet. Standing up straight he put his hands at the small of his back to stretch the muscles that invariably tightened up during the day. The back-brace helped but it could only do so much. Wiping a hand across his brow, he maneuvered the pallet jack into place. He turned around and started walking towards the loading dock with the pallet in tow.

“Sorry about that man,” Lonny said as he walked next to Roy with his own load for the truck. “Didn’t mean to fuck up like that.”

“It happens,” Roy shrugged. “Just watch your clumsy ass next time.”

“You got it,” Lonny joked back.

They finished loading the truck and brought the jacks back to the storage area. Together the two men headed for Darryl’s office.

“What’s going on?” Lonny said by way of greeting and slid into the spare chair.

“Not much,” Darryl replied. “Just throwing away the latest bullshit from The Asshole.”

Roy looked over from where he was leaning against the doorjamb. A stack of papers with Michael’s childish scrawl were unceremoniously dumped in the garbage. “What he want this time?”

“Same old, same old,” Darryl said as he logged into his computer. “Wants to drive the forklift, wants to know the hip new street lingo, blah, blah, blah. Like I don’t know what they do up there, but we got real shit to get done down here.”

“How that dipshit ever got made manager will forever be lost on me man,” Lonny lamented.

“You and me both.” Darryl looked up from his computer at Roy. “Speaking of upstairs, seemed like that new guy that got hired last week is getting kinda buddy-buddy with Pam.”

Roy snapped his head up. “What?”

“Yeah man. They were all smiling at each other when I was up there.”

“Damn son,” Lonny looked up at Roy with a smirk. “What’s the matter? Can’t hold onto your girl?”

“Fuck you,” Roy shot back. “Don’t worry about Pammy. She’s not going anywhere.”

“I don’t know.” Darryl looked back at his computer. “You seen the new guy? If I were you, I’d lock that shit down. Make sure of everything.”

“Lock what down? Pammy?” Roy furrowed his eyes.

“Dude you are dense at times, you know that? Probably one to many hits on the football field back in high school.” Darryl turned back to Roy. “Yes! If you don’t, someone will! Get on that before she leaves your sorry ass!”

Roy sulked while Darryl and Lonny laughed at him. “You know what? I gotta take a shit. Be back in a bit.”

Ignoring the jeers that followed him out of the office, Roy headed to the stairwell that led upstairs to the business offices. He tried but couldn’t keep Darryl’s words out of his head.

Pammy wouldn’t leave me. We’ve been together for, well forever. Never even looked at another guy before. What the hell? So, what does Darryl mean by lock it down? Marriage? Damn. Fuck it, if that’s what it takes. It would show those assholes who’s boss that’s for sure. Thinking I can’t hold onto my girl. Dicks.

He paused before he got to the glass doors and took a couple breaths before heading in. However, the reception desk was empty when he walked up. Looking around he couldn’t see Pam anywhere.

“May I help you Mr. Anderson?”

Roy turned at the clipped tone to see Dwight standing in front of him. Great, the geek, he thought. “Yeah, have you seen Pammy?”

“Pamela is on her corporate approved lunch break. She decided to forego the break room and has left the building.”

“Uh, thanks. Know where she went?”

“I do not.”

“Know when she’ll be back.”

“I do not.”

Roy felt himself starting to get irritated. “You’re not being very helpful.”

Dwight scoffed. “As much as it pains me, I am forbidden from securing tracking devices to the vehicles of the personnel on the premises. Otherwise I have answered your questions truthfully. Now as Assistant Regional Manager-”

“TO THE Regional Manager,” Phyllis said over her shoulder.

“-I must inform you that unless you have any company business to conduct you are required to resume your duties in the warehouse.”

Roy craned his head around for one last look for Pam before admitting defeat. “Yeah. Right.”

Once he was back in the hallway, Roy took out his phone to send a text.

Hey babe came up to eat with you guess you wern’t there

How about we eat at my place tonght ill have food ready

Tucking the phone back into his pocket, Roy headed back downstairs. At first the lack of reply didn’t bother him. Sometimes she was like that. But as the afternoon wore on, he couldn’t help his hand from pulling his phone out more and more, hoping to see a new message pop up. Finally, about an hour before quitting time his phone chirped at him.

Sounds good. I’m going to head home first to change then I’ll be over. What’s for dinner?

Breathing a sigh of relief, Roy typed a reply.

It’s a surprise See you tonite.

He put the phone back in his pocket and walked towards the last pallet to be loaded for the day. Now all I have to do is figure out something to cook.

Two hours later, Roy was sitting on his couch watching SportsCenter when he heard the door to his apartment open. He felt a grin appear on his face when he heard Pam’s voice. It sounded like she was on the phone.

“That’s what I said! There’s no way the Blue Angels can match the Man in Black! Anyway, sorry I need to go. Talk to you later. Yup, I will. Bye.”

“Hey babe,” Roy called out without getting up. “Who was that?”

“Just Izzy. I didn’t see her when I got home so we were catching up,” Pam was taking her coat off and started to drape it over one of the two chairs by Roy’s small table. She stopped short as she looked into the living room. “Umm, hi Kenny.”

“Pammy,” Kenny waved dismissively as he shoveled TV dinner turkey and gravy into his mouth.

Pam looked at Roy. “I thought we were having dinner together?”

“We are!” Roy said. “Yours is right there on the table.”

He heard the rustling of a plastic bag as Pam dug her own Hungry Man TV dinner out of a grocery bag.

“Umm, is this it?”

Roy looked and saw Pam holding the unopened box with a puzzled expression on her face. “Yeah! That’s the great thing. All ya gotta do is put it in the microwave.” Just then the appliance in question dinged to signal it was done. “Speaking of which, there’s mine.”

He got up to take the tray out but almost dropped it due to the heat coming off the packaging.

Pam shook her head and quickly crossed into the kitchen. She grabbed the single dish towel from where it was hanging out of a drawer and butted Roy aside. “Oh, let me. You'll spill it all over yourself.”

“Thanks, Pammy,” Roy said between blowing on his fingers. He returned to his seat on the couch while Pam put the TV dinner down in front of him on the coffee table. “Hey since you’re up could you get us another round of beers?”

With a sigh, Pam headed back to the kitchen. She returned with two fresh cans of Natural Ice for the brothers before heading once more to the kitchen. Rather than using the microwave, she turned on the oven.

“Watcha doin’ in there babe?”

“Making my dinner since no one else will,” came the cool reply.

Roy took a swig of his beer before he responded. “Aww babe, don’t be like that.” He leaned forward to see her standing in front of the oven tapping her foot with her arms folded across her chest. “Just use the microwave.”

“I like the taste from the oven better,” Pam said without looking up.

Roy shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

Twenty minutes later Pam sat down with her own dinner next to Roy. She reached into her purse to pull a bottle of water out and twisted off the cap. Roy belched loudly and leaned back to try and drape an arm across her shoulders.

Pam shrugged him off. “It’s hard to eat with your arm like that.”

“Fine,” he said and resumed his focus on the TV screen.

For a few minutes the only sounds were of the Top 10 highlight reel. When the show broke to commercial Roy looked over at his girlfriend.

“So, I think we should get married.”

Pam had just taken a bite of her chicken tender. She looked at him with huge eyes before leaning forward as her body was wracked with coughs. She grasped for her water to clear her mouth and get her breathing under control.

“What!”

“Yeah, you know, we’ve been together for forever so, why not?” Roy had a very proud look to his face.

“Wait, you’re serious?” Pam’s face morphed into one of incredulity.

“Yeah I’m serious.” Roy seemed somewhat taken aback.

Pam looked over at Kenny who was still engrossed in the TV. “Can we have a minute?”

“What was that?” Kenny reached down for his beer as if he hadn’t heard her.

“What do you mean we need a minute,” Roy asked.

Pam stood up and started heading for Roy’s bedroom. “Roy, we need to talk in private.”

An expectant grin bloomed on Roy’s face as he followed her. She was standing in the doorway when he caught up. She closed the door behind them and started to take a deep breath. Roy reached forwards to grab her hips and try to pull her to him. Angrily, Pam pushed his hands down and gave his chest a slight shove causing him to take a few steps back.

“Pammy! What the hell!” he started for her again.

“No Roy! Stop!” She put up a hand to keep him from coming any closer to her. “You don’t get to ask me ‘what the hell’ when you spring something like that on me out of the clear blue!”

“What?” He put his hands up. “I thought you would be happy.”

“Happy?” Pam’s eyes grew wide in shock. “What part of any of that would make you think I was happy?”

“Most girls seem to be happy when they get a proposal.”

“That’s because many of those girls are proposed to in a way that means something. Not an off-hand question to ask during the commercial break.”

Roy gestured forwards towards the door. His voice had some heat in it. “So, what are you saying? That what I said meant nothing? Do you think I don’t mean what I said? So what if it’s not some big romantic gesture. That’s not us.”

Pam huffed and looked away for a moment. “You don’t get it do you? Girls dream about getting proposed to and getting married for years. It’s a big deal. I’ve even told you how I wanted to be proposed to, and it wasn’t like that I can tell you that much!”

It was Roy’s turn to look surprised. “You did? When?”

Pam crossed her arms again. “Only any time it even remotely comes up. I even made you a list. Talk to my parents, find somewhere romantic, use my full name, go down on one knee, and most importantly have a ring. God! Do you ever listen to me!”

“Sure, I listen to you Pammy!”

She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Really?”

“Yes really!” Roy defended himself.

“Then why can’t you remember that I don’t like to be called Pammy?”

“You’re serious about that?”

“Yes Roy!” Pam scoffed. “I’m serious about that! Just like the last time I told you I was serious about that, and the time before that, and the time before that!”

“Okay! Okay!” Roy backed off and held his hands up. “Geez! Fine! I’ll try to remember.”

“Don’t try to remember Roy.” Pam was still upset. “Actually remember. I mean, you want to get married but can’t even remember a detail like that? What else are you going to forget? My birthday? That I don’t just want a gift certificate for Christmas?”

“Okay! Danm! You don’t have to go all psycho on me. I was trying to do something nice!”

“Something nice? Something nice would have been not letting Kenny over if you really wanted to have a nice dinner with me.”

“Aw, come on,” Roy pleaded. “Kenny’s family. I can’t turn him away.”

“Kenny is a grown ass adult who is more than capable of feeding himself,” Pam shot back. “Also, he’s your family. If you’re really serious about getting married, then you’ve got to start choosing me over him. That’s just one thing that marriage is supposed to mean. You break away from your old family to build a new one.”

“So, I’m supposed to leave him out on the street!” Roy finally had some heat in his voice. “Is that what you’re saying?”

“Of course not,” she conceded but then kept on. “What I am saying is that if you really want to get serious about this relationship then you have to start putting me first. I mean when was the last time we went out to an actual restaurant, just the two of us? Not just a bar to drink with the guys, but a nice sit down, order from a menu, restaurant?”

“Ummm.”

Pam poked him in the chest. “Exactly!”

Roy put his hands on his head and turned in a circle. “I can’t believe this! Here I am trying to show you I want to be serious, and you’re giving me the riot act. Where the hell is all this coming from? You’ve never said anything about any of this crap before! So, what if we don’t go out to restaurants a lot! We always have fun at Poor Richards or wherever!”

“You have fun Roy,” Pam said. “I’m just there to drive you home. I tried to get in on your darts games and you push me away. I tried to play pool and you wouldn’t even stand up for me when Lonny said girls are bad pool players.”

“They’re just joking around, you gotta lighten up.”

Pam’s eyes furrowed. “See that's my point right there! I’m here telling you clear as day that there are things that make me uncomfortable and you just blow it off like it’s no big deal. You’ve always done that! Ever since high school. How many times did you drag me out to some bonfire after a game, even when I told you I could get in trouble for it? How many times did your teammates make some kind of comment about my boobs that you just laughed off? You say things like, ‘it’s just a joke,’ but I’m not laughing. What it is, is embarrassing. Especially now. To see my boyfriend acting the same way now as adults as he did when we were teenagers.”

“That’s not fair,” Roy whined.

“How is it not fair? Look around you Roy!” She gestured to the bedroom. Her eyes glared at his dresser topped with various high school athletic trophies and walls plastered with car and bikini model posters. “You’re not in high school anymore! You’re not eighteen and the star linebacker!”

“I thought that’s what you liked about me!”

“Back in high school, maybe!” Pam shrugged though she still had an edge to her voice. “But we’re not teenagers anymore. We’re adults. Time to start acting like it. That means putting some thought into what you do and who you value.”

When Roy didn’t have a reply, Pam groaned in frustration and left the room. She tried slamming the door, but it just bounced off the doorjamb. Roy followed her out to see her picking her coat off the chair and putting it on.

“Where are you going?”

“Home Roy,” she said as she zipped up the coat and threw her purse over her shoulder. “I’m going home. Enjoy your beer and TV dinner.”

With that she stalked out of the apartment.

Roy was left feeling dumbfounded. He stood stock still, staring at the door until he felt Kenny at his side. When he looked over his brother was holding Pam’s discarded TV dinner tray.

“So, does this mean I can have the rest of this?”

_____________________________________________________________________________

Pam pulled into her parking spot outside her apartment building and shut off her car’s engine. She was still seething about the fight. With a high-pitched groan of frustration, she slammed her hand against the steering wheel before letting her head rest against the hard plastic. From the depths of her purse she heard the tone of a new text message. Groaning to herself she dug it out.

He can’t even call me back after a fight like that, he texts back. Smooth Ro-

Her thoughts came to a standstill when she saw the name that lit up her front screen. A name that most definitely was not Roy’s. Flipping open the phone she opened the message.

Hey Beesly! Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed our lunch today. Thanks for getting us out of the office like that.  See you tomorrow, Jim.

The tight knot of anger in her chest melted away and she felt the corners of her lips curl up as she read the message again. A curious sensation started to flutter in her stomach as she tapped out a reply.

Stick with me Halpert. You ain’t seen nothing yet. See you tomorrow, Pam.

Chapter End Notes:
Hope you like it and look forward to any comments you have.

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