"Childish Behavior"
Summary: Pam and Jim spend their going away party on a playground. One-shot.
Author's Note: The playground in this fic is based on one at a park near my house. It's hard to describe, and I'm not exactly the best writer in history, so please bear with me. This idea has been stuck in my head for a while now, but I'm not entirely sure if I'm happy with the final product.
It was so cliché. There, Jim and Pam stood in the midst of their dual Happy Going Away party at the local Uno's. Michael had wanted a special venue for the gathering, and what better place than a reserved corner in a restaurant that Jim found famous for burning their chicken tenders?
It was June 6th, two days before Jim's flight to Australia, and four days before Pam's wedding, add an extra twenty four hours before the start of her honeymoon. She and Roy were going to the Florida Keys. Not the place Pam had wanted, but Roy insisted because his cousin owned a hotel down there and could get them in for cheap. Plus, they had wanted to visit after not seeing each other for three years.
However, at the going away party, Roy was absent. What was not absent was the inevitable tension between Pam and Jim. It was at an all-time high that night, but even with the strained silence they clung to each other during the awkward get-together.
They had smiled appropriately whenever someone wished them well on their trip, and glanced at each other whenever Michael did a…well…Michael-thing. The latest embarrassment was him singing Karaoke to a cheesy Goodbye song whose title Pam couldn't place her finger on. After he finished, he walked up to her with a pained expression and hugged her like a child.
"It's so sad to see you go!"
Pam could have sworn his cheek was wet with tears.
"Michael, I'm only leaving for a week and a half."
When they separated from each other, Michael's eyes were locked on the floor. He then shook his head from side to side, up and down, his nose scrunched up. Pam's eyes were wide, looking at Jim next to her, as Michael proceeded to walk away in a huff.
She laughed nervously.
"I'm not sure how much more I can take of this."
"Right there with you."
So they left. They went outside, into the moon-lit night and began walking.
"That was painful," Pam joked, turning her body towards Jim as they strolled along the sidewalk. She felt the need to say something. Anything. Forced words were better than the silence that plagued them that evening.
Jim shook his head, inhaling sharply. "It's a shame, because usually Michael's parties go so well."
Pam smiled, breathing out a small laugh. They continued walking. To where, they didn't know. But Pam liked the unpredictability. With the rest of her life planned out and controlled, at least she'd have this one walk.
And that's when the silence finally felt comfortable.
It must have been ten minutes, neither of them saying a word, before Pam had spotted it. A big grin took over her face as it entered her view. She turned towards Jim then, smiling as she walked sideways.
"You know how long its been since I've been on a playground?"
Jim looked over to the park that Pam was referring to.
"Yeah…too bad it'd be immature and childish…" he started. They both stopped and stared at each other, a glint in both their eyes that dared one another.
They took off in unison. Running for the playground set that was complete with a pole leading up to the higher floor, and three slides—two small, and one large spiral one. Instead, Pam took up the stairs while Jim chased after her. Her laugh filled the air.
She stopped when she realized the playground mocked a boat, with a fake steering wheel and submarine-like windows that viewed the swing set several feet away. Her last time on a boat, the booze cruise, entered her mind, and she faltered for a moment. But then a giggle escaped her as she skipped over to the fake wheel, giving it a big turn.
Suddenly, out of character, she shouted, "All-aboard!"
Jim's eyes seemed to pop out of their sockets as he laughed with her, incredulous. It took a moment before a similar child-like hallucination came over him.
"So are you the captain of this ship, ma'am?" he asked with the fakest English accent he could muster up. Or maybe it was Australian.
She nodded childishly. "Of course I am, you're my first mate, you should know that."
"Of course…but what you don't know is that I'm a pirate working undercover…"
Pam's eyes widened in mock fear.
"And I've been scheming all along to take over this ship."
He bolted for her, reaching out with his arms to bring her down. She let out a playful, girly scream as she ran for the spiral slide to get back on land. Jim took a different route, sliding down the pole. He caught up with her on the other side of the playground and proceeded to chase after her in circles around the set. Pam giggled and teased and shrieked. Jim went slower to give Pam a chance to run, contorting his face to resemble an evil pirate.
Just for tonight, they were kids. No worries, no fears, except of the fake characters they thought up. Jim was right behind her when she made a fast escape, trying to climb up one of the small slides leading to the platform of the playground. She shrieked when Jim followed, grabbing her before she made it to the top. He pulled her down with him and tickled her to prevent her from escaping again. Pam laughed beneath him, both still sprawled out on the bottom of the slide.
Her body vibrating with laughter underneath his lead to the inevitable. In a few moments his face changed, his eyes darkened, his lips parted. He stopped tickling her, and instead his fingers rested on her exposed abdomen. Her laughter stopped also, replaced with heavy pants. Their eyes seemed to lock forever until he started moving. Lifted a shaky hand to her hair and brushed it out of her face.
And when their lips touched, all reason left both their minds. They kissed slowly, tenderly, as if savoring each other's taste.
Wine and cherry chap stick, Jim thought.
His brain must have disconnected from his body because, out of his control, his hands roamed up her stomach and to the outline of her bra. And that simple notion smacked him out of his sex-induced haze because he remembered that he was making out with Pam. Pam. On a playground eight o' clock at night.
And it felt inappropriate.
His lips left her's, both shuddering, his head bowing down so that his eyes met the front of her neck.
"Sorry," was all he could whisper after a moment of silence. Her eyes blinked a few times, trying to regain focus on the starry night above her. Without looking at her face, his focus still on her stiff body beneath him, he pushed himself up and hopped off the bottom of the slide. His hand reached around to brush the back of his hair.
"Sorry," he said again. She still laid, however, focused on the…what was it? Eight? Nine? Visible stars in a cluster above her. She studied them, trying to connect each one to form a picture. An apple. No. No, a Halloween pumpkin yet to be carved.
When she came to that conclusion, she blinked a few more times, her fists tightening.
"We should get back."
Her empty voice caused Jim to wince.
"I'm really sorry, Pam."
She got off the slide, smoothing down her shirt. She needed to focus on something, anything. Anything besides Jim's intense stare. Her eyes averted from her shoes, to the gate nearby, finally resting on her folded arms.
When she walked off, it took Jim a few moments to follow. And during the time it took to get back to the party, Pam counted Jim's apologies. He had reached thirteen when they opened the door to the restaurant. But with each apology came silence, because she couldn't bring herself to accept any one of them.
She wasn't sure if he had anything to be sorry for.