The Office Fan Fic: Pam's Point.
Pam watched Jim walk out of the dark office. It was close to midnight now, and she was a little buzzed. So buzzed she wasn't entirely sure what had just happened, or why. She thought about going after him, but stopped herself.
She asked herself, "what would I even say? What would I do?"
And Roy…poor Roy…Pam knew her fiancée was far from perfect, but he didn't deserve this. As Pam stood in the dark office, her cellphone rang. She looked down to see her mom calling. She waited a moment before answering, gathering herself and her thoughts.
"Hi mom" Pam answered, her voice still a little shaky from what had just happened. She tried to clear her throat and make herself sound normal, but it was too late. Her mom, Helene Beesly knew something was wrong.
"Pam!" Helene was nearly shouting into the phone. "What happened!?"
Pam racked her brain trying to remember the last thing she said to her mom before she had to hang up and Jim entered the office.
Pam went into detail about the conversation her and Jim had in the parking lot, about how he confessed his true feelings for her, and how he kissed her in the dark empty office before she rejected him and he walked away. But as she was racking her brain for details about exactly what had just happened, she suddenly realized something- she kissed him back.
Pam finished the conversation with her mother, and returned to the casino night in the warehouse where she found Angela to ask her for a ride home. As she was leaving the Dunder Mifflin office park, she noticed Jim's car was no longer there. She pulled out her phone to see if she and texts or missed calls from him, but she did not. Pam knew there was nothing else she could do about this situation now, so she leaned back her chair and began to close her eyes until she was awoken by the screams of a homeless woman Angela almost hit with her car.
Pam opened the door to her apartment as quietly as she could when she arrived. She knew her fiancée Roy was sleeping inside and didn't want to disturb him. She put on her pj's, and climbed into bed.
She tried to go to sleep, but knew it was no use. So she just lay there in bed, staring at the ceiling of their bedroom with a million thoughts racing through her mind: Why did Jim choose the casino night of all nights to confess his love for her? How long had he felt this way? What would this mean for the future of their friendship? And most importantly, what did this mean for her future with Roy, the man she was scheduled to marry in just a few months.
As she pondered this, she rolled over and watched Roy while he slept. She was trying to think of the moment she fell in love with him, but she could not. The expression on Pam's face began to turn from calm to frustrated as she began to rack her mind with reasons she fell in love with Roy, and why she should spend the rest of her life with him. She tried to reassure herself that it was late and she had been drinking, but this was not the first time she had been feeling this way about her husband to be. She could feel them drifting apart for the past few months, and knew deep down in her heart that she didn't love Roy the way he loved her, that she was just getting married because she felt like she had too. She also knew the longer she waited to tell Roy this, the worse it would be. She eventually drifted off to sleep, but not before one final thought crossed her mind: Pamela Beesly-Halpert..
The next Monday couldn't come soon enough for Pam. She woke up with a smile on her face, and a change in her heart. As she was getting dressed for the day, she tried to think of a time she might have been more excited to go to work, but she could not. She had not spoken to Jim at all that weekend, but that was pretty customary for the two of them. They might have been known as "the best friends" in the office, but she knew Jim had a life outside of the office- as did she. She had spent the weekend shopping with her sister, and catching up with her parents. She bought a new outfit at the Steam Town mall, and even splurged on some new make up- something Pam almost never did.
As Pam sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast, she texted Angela for a ride to work. She wanted to make sure she got to the office extra early to make sure her and Jim could speak before the rest of her co-workers arrived. As Pam was finishing breakfast, she heard Angela honk her horn once then a few seconds later several more times, and she knew it was time to go. She ran up to her room and gave a sleeping Roy a quick kiss on the forehead before grabbing her purse and rushing out the door.
Pam got out to Angela's car as quickly as possible- she knew one thing Angela hated was waiting for people. She greeted Angela with a warm smile and a friendly "good morning" as Angela rolled her eyes at Pam.
When she questioned what was wrong, Angela turned to Pam and scoffed "Really, Pam? Red lipstick? It's a Monday. I didn't realize the office had turned into a brothel over the weekend".
Pam smiled and shook her head right back at Angela. She was in a great mood- she was wearing a nice new outfit, her hair was on point for the first time in months, and she had finally built up the courage to say something she had been feeling for years. She was on top of the world. Not even Angel's attitude or the annoying Christian rock music she always insisted on listening to could get her down.
As they pulled up to the office park, Pam almost sprinted into the building. Angela called out for her to wait, but she didn't care, she was on a mission. Pam waited for the elevator for what seemed like a lifetime before deciding to take the stairs. She couldn't help but run through the doors when she got to the Dunder Mifflin sign in the buildong. She walked through the doors expecting to see Jim at her desk, but was shocked to see the temp Ryan sitting at where Jim usually sat.
Pam was at loss for words. But a million thoughts were racing through her mind. Before she had a chance to ask Ryan what had happened to Jim, Michael called her into her office.
"Pamola! I need to see you in my office ASAP..as possible. This is threat level…well not quite midnight. Lets call it sub-Midnight. Lets go!"
Usually Pam would take her time when Michael calls her into his office, but not today. She threw her things down at her desk and rushed into Michaels office, pushing Toby out of the way and shutting the door in his face.
"Where's Jim?" Pam asked as she took a seat in Michael's office.
"Pam," Michael began, "Let me tell you a story".
Pam rolled her eyes and let out a sigh because she knew what was coming next: a long tangent about nothing before he finally circled around to the point. Pam acted as if she was going to get up and leave before Michael stopped her. He then proceeded to tell her about how, according to Jan, Jim had interviewed for an open position at Stamford, and had spent the previous weekend moving to Stamford since he needed to start that morning.
"So that's it? He's just gone?" Pam asked Michael.
"He told me as he was leaving casino night that he wouldn't be back in the office Monday" Michael responded. Pam was confused as she stood up and walked out of Michael's office.
She sat at her receptionist's desk as she tried to hold back tears.
"He's gone…just like that" she thought to herself. "Why did he just leave without telling me?"
She was thrown back into reality when Dwight marched through the door he does every Monday morning. He looked to where Jim usually sat, and saw Ryan sitting there instead. He dropped his bags, fell to his knees, and yelled out a triumphant cheer.
He began chanting his own name, expecting others to join in, but was instead interrupted by Michael calling a conference room meeting.
"Attention gang, conference room, 5 seconds. like I said to Pam we are dealing with threat level sub-midnight, so lets see a little hustle…I'm looking at you Stanley" Michael said as Stanley looked as if he was about to doze off in the middle of his Monday crossword puzzle.
One by one, the office slowly filed into the conference room. Pam, who usually sat next to Jim during these meetings, took a seat next to Kelly.
Kelly took a quick look around the room and whispered to Pam, "Is Jim out sick today?"
Pam pretended not to hear her as Michael began the meeting. "Well I think the first order of business, is to congratulate Ryan…the hottest in the office just got a little hotter! Ryan Howard is no longer a temp. As of today, he has accepted Jim's job and is the newest salesman here at Dunder Mifflin!"
There was some weak applause from a few members of the staff.
Dwight took this as an opportunity to stand in front of his co workers and announce Jim's departure as a victory for himself. "I think we all knew it was only a matter of time.." Dwight began to say "Jim has been defeated, and I, Dwight..am the victor".
He stood at the front of the conference room, one hand raised in the air in as a sign of victory. He stood there a few more seconds until Michael made him sit down.
"Moving on to the next order of business.." Michael started before Meredith interrupted him.
"Wait, so what happened to Jim?" Toby assumed Meredith was talking to him, but Michael also assumed she was talking to him. "Jim got a promotion actually. Dan Chissim from Stamford was promoted to regional manager of Buffalo, so there was an opening. Jim interviewed with Jan a few weeks ago, and he got the job".
Everyone looked pleased for Jim that he got the promotion, and actually began to applaud for him even though he was no where to be seen.
Both Michael and Dwight were both visibly upset at this, Dwight at the notion that Jim was getting praise from his co workers even though he was not even there, and Michael at the fact that his employees were pleased at something Toby had said, something he was never ok with.
"Alright Toby, nice try! We all know you hacked up Jims body this weekend with a chainsaw, shoved him in the back of your car…probably spent the weekend disposing of the body…" Michael looked to his employees and expected to see them laughing at his hilarious "joke". To his displeasure, they were all looking at him with looks of disgust, and annoyance; Stanley was shaking his head, while Creed looked very intrigued at the idea of discussing so gory in the workplace.
The meeting lasted a few minutes later before Michael dismissed the office and they returned to their work. The rest of the day felt like a bad dream for Pam. She couldn't remember the last time she had been so bored all day. A small part of her wanted to call Jim and see where things stood between the two of them.
"No" she thought "that can't lead to anything good"
She and waited waited for lunch to come. She needed to stop staring at Jim's desk, which was now Ryan's. The image of Ryan sitting where she was used to seeing Jim was painful for her, and made her come to a stronger realization he was gone.
She decided to take her lunch break after everyone else so she could have some privacy in the break room. She had never felt so alone in the office. She was bored and tired and just wanted to leave. She finished her lunch fairly quickly, and returned to her desk. She noticed she had an email waiting for her when she returned, which was odd considering she usually doesn't get emails during her lunch break.
Her heart almost skipped a beat when she read whom it was from: Jim Halpert. She opened it as quickly as she could. The message was short, much shorter than she was expecting, so she read it about 3 times over. The email talked about how he was sorry he kissed her after the Casino Night and about how much he's appreciated their friendship over the years. It took a sadder turn when he talked about how he couldn't really see a future for himself at the Scranton branch, and needed to do what was best for him both professionally and personally. It ended with him saying that he doesn't know the next time he will see her, but that he was confident that they would laugh again sometime in the future.
Pam closed the email and got back to work. But not before she took a moment to take in her new surroundings: an office without Jim. It was not the worst she thought, but it could also be much better. As she was getting back to work, she took a look down at her engagement ring, and knew she would never be walking down the aisle with Roy. And in that moment, Pam was in peace. She did not know what the future held, but she knew it would not be with Roy.
And as for Jim, she was willing to wait. She also didn't know the next time she would see him, but she was hopeful it would be sooner rather than later. And as she finally let herself smile for the first time since finding about Jim's departure, the phone rang.
"Dunder Mifflyn, this is Pam".
