Almost Midnight, December 31st 1993.

Pam sat in the far corner of Kelly Kapoor's basement, sinking far into the uncomfortable couches she was sat on with a book in her lap. Beside the book, higher up her lap, was a napkin full of rainbow popcorn she was taking a bite of every few pages.

Her first high school party and she was spending it reading. Seemed about right.

It's not necessarily because she was making an effort to not talk to anyone, even though she kinda was, it was more the fact that she hardly knew anyone there to talk to. She recognised most of them, from classes and their popularity status around the school, but only knew a very few. And the people she did know we're off doing their own things anyway.

She knew Kelly, hence why she was at the party in the first place, but she was too busy trying to catch the attention of Ryan, and she knew Ryan, but he was occupied with half trying to avoid Kelly and half indulging in her attempts of flirtation. She knew Phylis, but she was in the corner with Bob Vance, her older boyfriend, and she knew Angela, but she'd only seen her once before she disappeared and Angela didn't like her that much anyway.

So she sat in the corner alone instead. She didn't particularly mind.

When Kelly asked her to the party, which according to her was going to be the party of the year (Ironic, considering it was a New Year's party) she was a little reluctant to go. Parties weren’t exactly her thing, she was far too shy, and not knowing anyone had been a bit of a deterrent, but then she remembered that Kelly, so far, was her only proper friend in high school, so not going wouldn't be a very nice thing to do.

When Pam finished junior high her family moved away to Scranton, leaving behind all her other friends in her original home town. It was rough, and the first few months of high school were hellish. The only people Pam had met or spoken to at that point were Angela, her lab partner in chemistry, who did not seem to like her one bit, and Phylis, who was nice if not a little passive-aggressive sometimes, but who she wasn't actually close enough to sit with at lunch, until for one history project, an assignment on a royal figure (Something of which Pam loved and already had an absurd amount of knowledge on), she met Kelly, her randomly assigned partner.

Pam had taken an instant liking to Kelly, solely on the fact that even when Pam started rambling a bit about royals, Kelly listened to her and let her talk instead of cutting her off, and even after Pam shared, or rather info dumped, her knowledge on the topic, Kelly still did her share of the work. Kelly took a liking to Pam because she seemed interesting, albeit a little quiet especially when compared to Kelly, and when she did speak she had a lot to say. Kelly liked that in a person, as she herself had a lot to say.

And from that project forward, they were friends. They ate lunch together every day, they say together in the classes they had together (History, P.E and textiles), they stood up for each other when they were harassed around school (Although that was usually Kelly sticking up for Pam, no one was brave enough to ever pick on Kelly) and sometimes even hung out together on the weekends, making trips to the mall or just sitting watching movies.

Through Kelly, Pam had the unfortunate luck of having to hear a lot about, and then meet, Ryan. Pam didn't like Ryan all that much. What Kelly saw in him, she'd never know, but if he was the person her now best friend chose to like, she was going to make an effort to support her, even if he did make her feel a little sick sometimes.

The clock struck eleven, one hour to go.

Pam turned the page, just getting into what she knew was the good bit (She'd read the book many times) and shoved another handful of popcorn in her mouth, rather ungracefully when the song "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" came on, blaring through the obnoxious speakers the Kapoor's owned.

Pam smiled to herself and began to hum along. Her father was a big Meatloaf fan, and she didn't mind his music either, though this one was the one she was most familiar with. Unable to help herself, she began to sing under her breath.

"Meatloaf," A voice she'd never heard before, a voice that was definitely not Kelly or Ryan or Angela or Phylis, said, shocking her out of her little trance. She stopped singing in an instant and shut her book forcefully, almost sending her napkin of popcorn flying. She looked up, her eyes wide as saucers.

He, whoever he was, was tall, towering over her from her sitting position. His hair was going in all directions and he wore a flannel shirt over seemed to be a The Incredible Hulk t-shirt and jeans. He had a prominent nose and his eyes seemed as wide as hers. He looked a little dorky, but somehow it was the cool kind of dorky. The more Pam looked at him the more familiar-looking he became, but she reasoned that with the height he seemed to have, he would probably be hard to miss.

He sat down next to her on the couch, keeping a slight gap between them. Pam blinked, remembering that he had said something. “Pardon?”

“The song,” He laughed breathlessly, “It’s a Meatloaf song.”

“Right. Yes, it is. Good song, huh?” Pam said, hand gesturing somewhere out to the centre of the party, in the direction of the makeshift dance floor and a majority of the speakers.

“It’s a great song,” He said with a sense of certainty, “One of my favourites.”

Pam nodded. “It’s one of mine too, probably in my top ten.”

“See, it’s in my top five so… I beat you," He joked.

Pam laughed, unable to help herself. "Well, can't argue with that logic. I'm Pam." She stuck out her hand for him to shake.

He took it and shook twice before letting go. His grip was firm. “I’m Jim. It’s nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too Jim."

"So, how do you know Kelly?”

“We met in history and so far she’d my only proper friend here. What about you?”

“I’m on the basketball team with Ryan, and through him met Kelly.” Right, that’s where Pam recognised him from. She’d been dragged to her fair share of basketball games with Kelly when she wanted to gawk over Ryan some more. She wasn’t that interested in basketball, but she found it a little amusing watching high school boys case a ball up and down a court for a half-hour.

“Right, I think I’ve seen you play once or twice,” Pam said.

“Yeah, makes sense I guess if you’re going to the games, I’m usually on the whole time. I think I’ve seen you play volleyball once or twice when I've tagged along with my brothers, sometimes they watch their girlfriends play. You’re on the team, right?” Jim explained.

Pam nodded. “Yeah, I’m on the team.” She would have asked Jim who his brother’s girlfriends were, but she reasoned that there was a decent chance she wouldn’t know who they are anyway. She didn’t interact too much with most of her teammates, especially the older ones.

“That’s a relief because it would have been really awkward if you weren’t.” He flashed her a wicked smile, and Pam felt her stomach flutter slightly.

They fell into silence, and Pam started to pick at the hardcovered corner of her book as the awkward crept in. Jim rubbed his hands together and ran them through his hair a few times, trying to smooth it down.

“Do you want to dance with me?” He asked suddenly, turning to Pam.

Pam looked up at him with a confused look. “What?”

“Do you want to dance with me? This song is awesome for dancing, so why don’t we?” 

Pam shook her head. “I don’t dance.”

“Oh, it’s easy. You don’t have to like, dance dance. You can just jump up and down if you want. Come on, I can teach you if you’d like,” Jim persisted, nudging her lightly with his elbow.

“It’s not that I can’t dance, any person can dance. I just don’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not exactly the type that’s a dancer. Especially at parties. I’m hardly even the type for parties, let alone dancing ate them.”

“Well, I’m the time for dancing,” Jim said.

Pam sighed. “I’m not stopping you. If you want to go and dance you can. You don’t have to sit here with me if you don’t want to.”

Jim shook his head instantly. “Nah, I dance at parties all the time, but it’s a rare occurrence I meet pretty girls in the corner. I think I’ll stay,” He said. Pam blushed, and Jim cleared his throat. “Besides,” he added, more as an afterthought, “I wouldn’t want to leave you here sitting alone. It’s a party, you should be enjoying yourself.”

“Thank you, Jim, that’s sweet,” Pam said, grinning shyly behind her curled strand of her hair hanging out of her ponytail.

The cheap disco lights Kelly had flashed their way, and for the first time, Jim managed to catch a glance of Pam. He knew he’d seen her around, at volleyball games and around school, he’s pretty sure he’d even caught sight of her in a basketball game, but up close he really could appreciate how pretty she was.

The thing with Pam is that she wasn’t the showstopper type of beautiful like all of those cheerleaders and popular girls, she was more the simple, effortless, girl next door kind of beautiful. Normally, Jim went for the showstopper beautiful, but Pam’s type of beautiful was drawing him into her.

But not only was Pam beautiful, but she also seemed interesting too, intriguing. He didn’t know much about her, safe from the very few details she’d chosen to share with him, but he wanted to know more. He wanted to become her second real friend here.

Pam was dead silent as he stared her down, shy under his intense glance. Heat was rising up her ears the longer he looked at her.

“Hey, we sort of match,” Jim said suddenly, breaking the silence once more.

Pam looked down at what she was wearing, white blouse, cream cardigan and skirt compared to his print shirt and jeans, and looked back to him, an eyebrow raised. “In what way do we match?” She giggled.

Jim laughed and rolled his eyes jokingly. “My shirt and your skirt sort of match, they’re the same sort of colour and they’re both plaids.”

Pam nodded and laughed again. “Yeah, I guess they are then.”

And once more, the silence fell among them, but this time it wasn’t necessarily awkward, it was just intense.          

Ten…

The sudden yells of their classmates broke them from their stupor, and both jumped and looked around. The old, ancient, tv in the corner started playing the countdown.

Nine…

It was at this point in the night that Pam remembered the New Years traditions and tales, that the person you’re with at when the clock strike twelve is who you’re supposed to be spending the next year with. Not that she knew Jim at all, but if she was going to spend the next year being friends with him, she certainly wouldn’t mind.

Eight…

One thing was on Jim’s mind, the tradition of kissing someone at midnight. Not that he’d ever go to kiss Pa, as much as he may have found himself sort of wanting to, but he’d only just met her and he certainly didn’t want to scare the poor girl away.

Seven…

Pam smiled at him nervously, and Jim smiled back. Another thing he found himself really liking about her was her smile. It sent something off in his heart, something he could pretty much only describe as happiness.

Six…

Pam’s stomach was a fluttering ball of mush, she could feel it. Her heart was pounding in her ears, and she could feel the remaining heat there from earlier. She didn’t know whether she was nervous or excited.

Five...

The cheering got louder as halfway to the new year hit, and Pam and Jim subconsciously moved closer to each other. They had no intentions by it, they had no ulterior motives, they weren’t even aware they did it. They were just excited.

Four…

Jim didn’t believe in love at first sight, and this situation was anything but love at first sight. He wasn’t in love with Pam, even if she was making him feel some kind of way, because he just met her and he didn’t know anything about her. What he could describe her was more what one could consider the desire to get to know at first sight. The desire for friendship.

Three…

The seconds that before now were going in slow motion suddenly sped up.

Two…

Everyone’s screaming numbers suddenly got louder.

One…

Everyone cheered, screaming ‘Happy New Year’ at the top of their lungs. People paired off to kiss and hug, and everyone made their rounds around the room to talk to everyone else. Pam laughed in delight, and without thinking, threw herself at Jim in a hug.

He hugged her back, holding her close as he all but scream “Happy New Year” in her ear. She screamed it back when she pulled away, and they laugh despite themselves, elated at everything happening around them.

“Wanna come talk to people with me, or are you not one for that either?” Jim asked teasingly after a few moments.

Pam rolled her eyes. “Sure, I’ll come talk to people with you, I’m not that anti-social.”

Jim laughed and stood, holding out his hand to her. Pam took it and once standing, held his arm, not wanting to lose herself in the crowd she’d only braved by herself twice so far that night, once to find Kelly and once to get more popcorn.

And after they spoke to everyone, they returned to sit on that couch, talking and getting to know more about each other until Jim’s mom came to pick him up. 1994 was off to a good start.