Jim stepped out into the crisp, cool Philadelphia air after his plane landed. He walked out to find Pete waiting in his car. He got out when he spotted him. “Hey Jimbo, sorry for your loss.” The two men bro hugged. “Thanks,” Jim sighed.
He got into the front seat and watched the cars and buildings they passed by. He thought back to his drive from Philly to Scranton back when he worked in Athleap’s Philadelphia HQ. Except this time it was Pete seated next to him instead of a beautiful red head with green eyes.
As they pulled up to the Halpert household, Betsy ran outside, her arms open wide. “Jimmy! I’m so happy to see my baby!” She kissed both of his cheeks. “I’m sorry under such circumstances.” She glanced at her son, who stood a whole foot taller than her. “Hi mom,” Jim gave her a small smile.
He walked into the house to see his dad sitting on the couch watching an Eagles game. “Hey son,” he glanced over his shoulder. “Hey dad, how are they doing?” Jim pointed at the tv. “You know, just as bad as usual.” He sighed. Jim let out a small chuckle and made his way up the stairs. He reached his old room and stepped inside, shutting the door behind him with a sigh. He opened the closet to put his luggage away and saw some of the boxes he’d left behind in Scranton after he’d moved. He looks up and sees a box labeled “Halpert wedding.” He hesitates before grabbing the box.
Inside he finds 2 tickets to the boat on Niagara, his cut tie, her torn veil, a centerpiece from the reception, the cake serving utensils, a favor, and a handful of photos from the day. He looked at a photo of their kiss on the boat and felt a tear welling in his eye. He closed the box quickly. 5 days. He’d be seeing her in 5 days.
He flopped himself on the bed and put a pillow to his face, letting out an exasperated groan.
-
Pam was sitting at her kitchen table writing out a checklist.
-grade art history essays
-get black dress dry cleaned for funeral
-make a checkup appointment for mom
She taps the blue pen to her chin thinking of what else she has to do this week when her phone rings.
Angela Schrute calling...
Pam puts down her pen and puts her manicured finger on the answer button. “Hey,” she started.
“Hey Pam,” Angela started. “Some of the old crew is getting together tonight at Poor Richard’s. I’d love to see you there, it’s been way too long.”
“Ang, it’s a Monday night. I have class tomorrow.” Pam sighed, nibbling on her thumb nail. “Pam! It’ll be good to see everyone with everything going on. Come on, one drink.”
“Okay, fine. One drink and then I have to leave, my students have an exam next week and I need to finish teaching them the chapter.” “Yay! I’ll see you there.” Angela chirped before hanging up.
Pam sighed, dropping her face into her hands. Moments later, her eyes shot open.
What if Jim shows up?
-
Jim walked into the smoky bar, head already pounding from the blaring stereo. He looked around, before hearing a familiar voice behind him. “Jim! Over here!” Jim turned around to see Darryl, Kevin and Andy surrounding a high top.
“Hey man!” Jim shook Darryl’s hand. “Hey Kev! Andyyy!!” He hugged them both. Next to their table was Dwight and Angela. “Hey guys!” He smiled warmly. They waved, and he realized Dwight was on the phone with the caterer for Friday. He looked around and saw a few other of the gang hanging around other parts of the bar. Kelly and Ryan were over at the claw machines, and of course Kelly was begging him to get her something. Erin, Pete, Clark and Toby were standing at another table a few steps away. Meredith was of course at the bar, and Stanley and Phyllis were drinking margaritas and looking at Stanley’s photos of his house in Florida. Jim thought he saw a figure that resembled Pam on the other side of the bar, but by the time he made his way over there she was gone. He let out a sigh before turning to the bartender and ordering a beer.
-
Pam pulled on her casual red dress in the parking lot, wondering why she chose to wear it. She wanted to turn back around and change, but then she sees Kelly pass by on her way into the building. “Hey Pam, cute dress!” This calms her nerves a bit, and she makes her way into the bar.
She walks in and says hi to everyone before making her way over for a drink. She places her order and taps her fingertips against the bar as she waits. She looks up for a moment and there he was; Jim. She sucks in a breath and thankfully the bartender just dropped off her drink because he looked as though he was headed right towards her. She quickly ducks behind a couple taller men and makes her way over to Dwight and Angela’s table.
After making some small talk with the couple, she notices Jim getting his drink meaning he’d be over their way any second. She quickly downs her drink and hops to her feet. “I should go.” She practically whispers. Angela’s eyes widen, “Pam. You just got here.” “Yup, one drink I said, remember?? Well, here’s that one drink. I gotta go.” She smacks down a ten dollar bill on the table to punctuate her sentence and makes her way to the door.
This was going to be a long week.
-
Jim made his way back into the bedroom and sat on the edge of his bed. He was hoping to see Pam tonight, but to no avail. He thought he saw her for a moment, but he must’ve imagined it.
He remembered Dwight had asked him to look for pictures of Michael to display at the wake. Jim went to his closet and got out his big box of pictures, glancing at the box he opened earlier.
He got through about 200 photos before he couldn’t look anymore. The emotions between seeing photos of Michael and also photos of Pam became too overwhelming. He set aside a stack of photos he found with Michael in them and then put away the box.
He decided it was time to go to bed, even though it really was him tossing and turning for most of the night.
