A fresh story folks. In a similiar mould to others I've written as it's set in season two but although I've prewritten several chapters I still don't know how it ends. Might be happy, might not, I'll see what feedback I get. Some warnings for some swear words but that's it so far. We begin on Saturday afternoon, keep an eye on the chapter titles so you know which day you're reading. Also, I've chosen some songs that weren't necessarily released when this was set but it's a minor detail. That's enough bossing around from me, enjoy!
Chapter One: Saturday Afternoon
It was a mild Saturday afternoon and Jim was pretending he had the faintest clue what he was doing. Dressed in his oldest pair of jeans spattered in about eight years worth of paint, grout, cement and grease from every DIY job he'd done and a cheap plain white t-shirt that he didn't mind ruining, he pulled his head from under the bonnet and smeared his grease stained hands across his cotton covered belly.
"Ok, so I think it's the alternator." He remarked to his grass-stained roommate Mark who had appeared with a can of Coke after a morning of gardening.
"Yeah?" he asked sceptically. "Point to the alternator, Jimmy."
Jim knew Mark had just as much of a clue about engines as he did so he pointed randomly at something near the battery. "There, smart ass."
"Whatever. You need a professional." They both leaned against the side of the car and took a swig of their drinks, enjoying the warmer turn in the weather.
"Yeah, I really didn't want to spend the money right now but..." he stopped speaking as he saw a familiar truck draw up in front of his house. Mark was oblivious that Jim had suddenly checked out of the conversation.
"...but you're saving up money so you can build a fighting robot? Come on man, I know you spend way less than you earn." Jim was staring at the truck. "Jim?"
No response.
Mark looked at the truck as the petite passenger inside jumped out of the cab and made her way towards them. She was dressed in jeans and a dark green sweater that showed off her hour glass figure despite almost covering all of her skin and her hair was back in a high ponytail. She had a fresh faced look about her and Mark recognised her from the barbeque. Pam. The smile on Jim's face almost made him roll his eyes but he didn't have the heart, this was always heading for disaster and his friend's heart was at the centre.
"Hey, did y'get lost?" Said Jim brightly as she approached.
"Hey, uh... no, not lost, no." She stammered and looking like she didn't quite know what to do with her arms.
"Uh, ok." Jim pulled a slight face, mocking her apparent nervousness and feeling a little unnerved himself. They didn't hangout outside the office much let alone show up unannounced on a weekend. "You remember Mark?"
"Oh yeah, hey." She remarked disinterestedly without taking her eyes off Jim.
"Hi. Um, I'm gonna finish packing up the mower." Mark made his transparent excuse and left knowing Jim would fill him in later.
Waiting until Mark was out of earshot Jim turned his attention back to his surprise guest. "So, what brings you to my door? Well... my car door." He smiled softly, trying to put Pam at ease but she could only muster a half hearted and slightly strangled chuckle.
"Any luck fixing the car?" She sounded a little more normal and could finally meet his eyes. Jim considered asking if she was ok but somehow he went along with whatever was going on. She'd tell him when she was ready.
"Not really, it's a trip to the shop I think. Thanks for the ride home yesterday, I was not looking forward to the bus, people keep trying to feed me weird stuff. Some old lady tried to feed me pigs feet the last time. I'm not kidding."
"Well I guess you are kinda skinny, motherly types wanna feed you up." She gestured at his stomach.
"I'm not skinny, I'm... lean." He retorted in mock defensiveness, patting his firm stomach. She laughed a little but the awkwardness returned like a wave and Pam was fidgeting once again.
"Do you want a drink or to come inside?"
"Oh, uh, no, I've got like a ton of errands to run. Here..." she rummaged around in her handbag and pulled out an iPod. "You left this in my car." She thrust it towards him and abruptly turned to leave.
"Wait," he reached out for her but stopped before touching her as his hands were still dirty. She stopped and turned her face still unreadable and confusing to Jim who thought he knew her so well. "Um, thanks for coming out here, you didn't have to."
"That's ok, I know how much you love your music." She looked down at her feet before chancing a glance at Jim. He knew something was wrong but he didn't know what to do about it.
"Yeah, keeps me sane."
"I, um, listened to that track you recommended, I liked it."
"Cool, I thought you would, she does a kick ass acoustic version too." Jim wanted to talk more but Pam got her car keys out, she wasn't hanging around.
"Nice, well I gotta go." More awkwardness hung between them. "Those errands won't run themselves!" she added lamely.
"Pam, is everything alright?" Jim wasn't sure whether he should ask but went for it anyway. The flash of slight horror on her face before it was overtaken by a fake smile that belied what she said next.
"Oh, I'm fine, just got lots to do, you know, busy, busy, busy." Jim finally recognised an expression; she was getting frustrated with herself and knew she couldn't lie to save her life. "I'll see you at work on Monday!" She hurried off leaving Jim say goodbye to the back of her head and watch her speed off in Roy's truck.
Jim wandered back inside to find Mark in the kitchen cleaning up the plates from lunch.
"That was..." Jim thought for a moment before choosing his adjective. "...weird."
"What happened?"
"She returned my iPod, I left it in her car after yesterday."
"Ok, so what was weird? Did she listen to it?"
"Yeah, she said she listened to a song I recommended."
"One called 'I secretly love you'?" Mark said with a smile on his face earning himself a scowl.
"No. I can't work it out, it's not like anything happened on the ride home yesterday, just the usual banter, why would she be acting weird with me? I mean, it was really, really weird out there, like she was uncomfortable around me or something." Jim chewed on his bottom lip with sheer anxiety.
"Gimme your iPod." Mark held out his hand and Jim handed it over. "Do you have a playlist called 'Songs about Pam?'"
"No." He half snapped, remembering the dozens of times he'd made them but deleted them immediately. He was never in a healthy headspace when he made those and Mark had a way of making him feel like a fourteen-year-old boy with a love-struck crush. The truth was he was twenty-six-year-old man with a love-struck crush.
Mark idly flicked through the various menus as Jim talked.
"I mean, I have romantic, love songs on there, but I've got like five thousands tracks, I've got classical music on there too, there's nothing she could have not liked or thought was weird, no pictures or notes. Maybe she lost my high score on Klondike or something."
Jim tried to joke but he was pacing slightly as Mark continued to examine the machine in silence.
"We were good yesterday, Michael was driving her crazy but I helped when I could without, you know, chloroforming my boss, I'm sure Dwight has some somewhere. She seemed happy with that. Even the car ride home was fun; we joked around, stuck to safe topics, she was smiling when I left her. It was great, really great."
Mark wasn't listening as he had put the ear phones in but Jim didn't need him to listen, he was talking to himself mostly.
"It's probably nothing, maybe Roy upset her again because he didn't wait for her yesterday even though it was only fifteen minutes or she's got some other problem, like a, you know, woman's problem." Jim was rambling. "Yeah, I'm being completely over sensitive thinking it's all about me, everything will be perfectly normal on Monday and that's that." Jim washed his hands in the sink with a flourish. "I feel much better, thanks Mark."
Mark looked up at him with a look of realisation and a shake of the head, the music still playing in his ears. "You complete and utter sappy idiot."
