She hadn’t told Roy to go, but when she stopped working on wedding plans, lifting her face to be kissed, and eventually even meeting his eyes when they talked, he had gotten the idea. She hadn’t begged Jim to stay, and he had left her for Australia and then for Stamford.

In the months since the Stamford branch had been downsized and Jim had ended up back in Scranton, Pam had never told him how happy she was that they had fallen back into their old roles as partners in crime. She also hadn’t told him how disappointed she was that her friendship was all he ever asked for. Pam was sure Jim still had feelings for her. She noticed now how often his eyes followed her, how his day wasn’t complete until he had made her laugh, how he tried to save her from the worst of Michael’s shenanigans…

But if they were ever going to move forward, Pam knew she would have to be the one to tell Jim she was ready--and she thought Thursday night might be the perfect time to give him the green light.

Pam hadn’t been able to stop smiling all day. She had spent half an hour before work choosing an outfit to change into for the bus. She had finally settled on black yoga pants, a black tank top, her new light blue zippered sweatshirt with the short standup collar, and running shoes. She was hoping it was the right combination of comfortable and sexy, and she thought it wouldn’t hurt to get Jim thinking about her in pajamas. She threw a pink lip-gloss into the bag for good measure.

As usual, Pam finished her actual work responsibilities before lunch. She spent the afternoon looking up silly road-trip games on the Internet and loading the video iPod she had bought herself in July with carefully chosen songs. Jim had come up to reception several times to peer at her computer screen and ask her what she was working so hard on, but Pam quickly alt-tabbed her desktop clean and told him innocently that it was a surprise.

When the clock finally hit five, she flashed Jim a giant grin and held up the mini-cooler and backpack she had packed that morning. His face broke into an answering smile before he raised his eyebrows mockingly. “You’re really excited about this conference, aren’t you, Beesly? I don’t know, it all seems a little ‘high school band trip’ to me. I mean, Le Bus? And have you seen the itinerary Michael passed out? Apparently we will be enjoying the many amenities of the Green Haven Rest Stop from approximately 10:05 until 10:17 pm.”

“I typed that itinerary, so suck on that, Halpert.” Jim just shook his head, but Pam noticed he couldn’t stop a smile from curling the edges of his mouth as he looked down at the canary-yellow paper she had chosen.

Michael came bounding through his office door, already wearing his favorite jeans. “OK, people! Oscar? Can you get off the phone? Kevin? Angela? Jim, can you rrrrrip yourself away from the reception desk for one second?” Pam winced as Jim, blushing, took a step toward Michael and turned away from her. “In a small matter of two hours, we will be leaving for the first…” Michael drum-rolled his hands on the wall. “Annual.” He pounded the wall some more. “Office-wide field trip…conference…thing… EXTRAVAGANZA!” Stanley rolled his eyes while the rest of the office just stared at Michael. “OK, so everyone can change and get their stuff together. We will be loading the bus at 6:45 sharp--right, Pam-a-lama-lama? If anyone wants to eat before we leave, I…will be at Chili’s.” Pam was sure she could actually see every person in the office making a mental note not to go to Chili’s…except maybe Dwight. She felt herself start to smile again, and caught Jim’s eye.

Pam changed in the bathroom, pulling her hair into a floppy bun with a black elastic. She put on a coat of lip-gloss and practiced a few smiles in the mirror before Kelly came in and almost caught her. “You look really, cute, Pam!” was all Kelly had time to say before Pam cut her off with a friendly smile and a “see you out there!” Pam left the bathroom laughing ruefully at herself.

She lugged her things down to the parking lot, where Jim was pulling his Corolla back into its spot. He climbed out of the car and then ducked back in for two fast-food bags and his duffel. Pam looked appreciatively over his jeans and t-shirt, feeling her cheeks grow hot when she realized Jim had seen her looking. Then she remembered her resolution, steeled herself, and cocked her eyebrow appraisingly. “It’s about time you started doing something with yourself, Halpert. You can’t expect the ladies to fall for you based on your charm alone.”

Jim’s eyes widened for a moment, but then he just handed Pam one of the fast-food bags. “Bon appetit.”

At 6:45, Jim started for the door of the bus, but Pam squeezed his bicep with her hand, holding him back. “Old traveler’s tip: you want be the one to choose who you sit by, trust me.” Once everyone else had climbed aboard, Pam handed Jim her cooler, then grabbed his other wrist and dragged him up the steps of the bus and down the aisle. She passed Dwight in the driver’s seat, and remembered Michael explaining that Dwight would be driving the bus to save the company some ‘cash-ola,’ since Dwight had a commercial driver’s license. At the memory of Jim’s soft “of course he does” over the bowl of jellybeans, Pam giggled. She hurried them past Michael, a few rows behind Dwight, trying not to think about the fact that Michael was holding a ukulele. She found an acceptable empty row behind Kevin and flopped down into the window seat, pulling Jim down into the aisle seat next to her.

Jim looked at her with a slightly bemused expression. “Pam…” She didn’t stop to listen. Pam dug a grape soda out of her cooler and pressed it into Jim’s hand, slipped a pack of playing cards out of her backpack pocket, and shoved the pack back under Kevin’s seat.

“I thought we’d start out with something comfortable. Something familiar.” Pam started laying out the cards on her tray table.

“Solitaire? But that’s a one-person game.”

“Not the way we play.”

Pam felt Jim’s eyes on her face, but she just looked down at the cards, searching for the first move.

“Black seven on the red eight,” Jim breathed into her ear, reaching across her to point at the card. Pam smiled to herself. This was going to work.

The next three hours flew by. They worked their way through four of Pam’s travel games, an episode of Knight Rider on Pam’s iPod (very helpful for blocking out the sounds of Michael’s ukulele), and a giant bag of peanut M&M’s which they had successfully kept hidden from Kevin. Pam was sitting cross-legged on her seat, knees against Jim’s leg and back against the window, laughing out loud at his David Hasselhoff impression. Jim looked down at Pam’s fingers clutching his t-shirt sleeve, then back up at her with a soft smile. “Pam. What has gotten into you today? Wait, are you drunk?” His tone had turned joking, but Pam felt her face grow serious. She looked right into Jim’s eyes and opened her mouth, when the bus suddenly pulled off the highway into a rest stop parking lot. “Green Haven,” Jim remembered with a nervous laugh. “Twelve minutes exactly.”

Pam knew this wasn’t the time for what she needed to say, and when a basketball standard in the parking lot caught her eye she said the first thing that came to mind. “I think twelve minutes is enough for me to take you in basketball.”

“Well, Pamela Beesly, I accept that challenge. And I just happen to have a basketball right here.” Pam grinned, satisfied that her hunch about the basketball-sized lump in Jim’s duffel bag had been correct. When the bus rolled to a stop, Pam was first to run down the steps and over to the hoop. She unzipped her sweatshirt and left it on the curb next to the nearest streetlight, and was already bouncing on her feet and trash-talking as Jim jogged up, dribbling the ball.

Pam hadn’t played basketball since the horror that was her high school gym class, but she didn’t think that would affect her strategy: ignore the rules completely and put Jim off his game as much as possible. Oscar had joined Pam’s team, and she knew she could count on him to make baskets or do anything else that required actual basketball skills. Whenever Phyllis threw Jim the ball, Pam would try to wrestle it from him. Whenever he tried to get a rebound, Pam was behind him trying to hold his arms back. And whenever Jim went in for a shot, Pam placed herself directly in his path so that he would run into her in the semi-darkness. In spite of Pam’s efforts, Jim and Phyllis were still ahead when Jim stopped and lined himself up for a three-point shot far from the hoop. With Jim’s arms above his head, there was no way Pam could reach the ball, but she had something else in mind. She placed both hands on Jim’s chest and stepped in close. Jim paused and she felt his body stiffen in response to her touch, waiting. She put her face close to his cheek and whispered his name. Just then, a piercing whistle came from the direction of the bus. “All aboard!”

Pam rolled her eyes and stepped back. Jim looked down at her, his head tilted to one side. “Are you trying to seduce me so that I’ll miss my shot? Truly diabolical, Beesly.”

Pam winked at him mischievously. “Half right.” She grabbed the ball from Jim’s hands and ran back toward the bus.