Sharpies

Wow, another office meeting. What a surprise. Once again I had to tell another client I would call back soon, but not be able to until 3 hours later. Again I'm cramped inside a small room with a bunch of people, practically a claustraphobic's worst nightmare. Even though I'm not claustrauphobic, I can't help but feel like one today.

I walked into the conference room and saw Pam's smiling face and her hand gesturing me to come and sit down by her. My heart flipped a little as I settled myself down into the seat next to her. I grinned at her and then turned my attention to the front.

Michael and Dwight were standing at the front with an easel pad stood between them, reading the words 'Sharpies and Their Uses'. Dwight had about 10 Sharpies crammed into his shirt pocket and Michael looked like he had sniffed every single Sharpie in Dwight's pocket dry. (Figuratively speaking, I'm sure it wasn't all of Dwight's Sharpies.)

Eyebrows raised, I turned to Pam, looking to see her reaction. She stared at me with her signature look of surprise and just shrugged her shoulders.

The look on her face made me grin even wider and my heart flipped again. Readjusting myself in my seat, I turned back to the front of the room just as Michael cleared his throat.

"Hey gang, today our lesson is about Shar-"

"Michael, how does this have any relevance to work?"

Michael paused and cocked his head. "Well Stanley, that is a very good question." Michael started, the flipped up the page on the easel pad. "I'd just like to say first of all is that Corporate had asked us to get rid of Sharpies and I am against that, so that is why we are discuss- yes, Phyllis?"

Phyllis lowered her hand and said, "Why were they banned in the first place?"

The room remained silent as everyone stared at Michael, who was looking through his mind for an answer. If he doesn't know the answer, that means he probably started it, but we aren't really the right people to tell him. I mean come on; he's the one who could fire us. Then again, we're probably the only ones who understand that we should tell him, right? No wait, maybe we don't have to, he's starting to speak

"Well…" he started, but then abruptly changed direction. "That's not the point here today folks. We're here to find out reasons of why Sharpies are useful to use in the work place. Anyone have ideas?"

An awkward silence stood in the room, no one really wanting to put their input into such a ridiculous matter. I scratched the back of my neck, just grazing my newly cut hair. This probably sounds stupid, but I really do miss my old hair. It made me feel more comfortable and, in Pam's words, made me look a bit more approachable. Yeah, of course you can now approach the 6 foot 3 guy because his hair is a mess. Have no fear. Well, I guess it's better than when somebody said I looked homeless.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Pam raise her hand.

"Yes Pam?" Michael exclaimed, glad to have broken that quiet moment. He really doesn't know what it means to be calm, does he?

"Um, Sharpies do help me label things like folders and stuff." she said timidly.

"Yes, good." Michael said, pointing at her. "What else?"

"They…" Pam started, then saw Dwight's pocket. Ah, she noticed it too. "They also are in various colors which can brighten up anything, such as Dwight's shirt pocket."

Dwight raised his eyebrows and looked at his shirt. The bottom half of his white shirt was soaked with the colors teal, red, blue, green, and purple. He looked up, his cheeks reddening, and muttered, "I need to go wash my shirt." He pulled open the conference room door open and walked to the kitchen.

Moments later, Angela stood up. "I shall assist him in cleaning his shirt. I know how to wash it out with…soda and coffee grinds." she said curtly, and stepped out of the room also.

I might just be a guy, but I was pretty sure coffee grinds would make the stain worse. I turned to Pam again, waiting to see a reaction. She raised her eyebrows as if to say, "Did you do this?" I merely smiled knowingly and turned to Michael. This meeting was going all right. I had had my doubts about everything being okay, but Pam and I were still joking around, just like good old times. Besides, she isn't even here ri-

"Sorry Michael, I had to finalize some sales, what's going on?"

Damn, guess everything can't turn out perfect.

Karen shut the door behind her and walked over to the seat across from me, not even looking at me once.

"Nothing much Karen, we were just telling our opinions on how we like Sharpies." Michael replied as she sat down. "Care to give us your insight?"

Karen thought, or pretended to, I can't tell, for a moment, and then replied. "Personally, I don't like Sharpies. They are just so permanent, even when you don't want them to be. Once you make a mistake, you can't erase it anymore and it's stuck there forever. Sure, you could always start over fresh, but you still know that you screwed up the first time. It'll haunt you almost like a ghost and you can't get rid of it." She stared right at me then. "Isn't that right Jim? Aren't Sharpies like that?"

My eyes widened, as I understood what she meant. Crap, she looks furious at me. I don't really know what to say to that. "Well…" I start, but then I look at her eyes once again. I see anger in them, but then I can see flickers of sadness. She must still be enraged at me for leaving her in New York during the job interview, but I can tell she's almost trying to tell herself it never happened. Now I got an even clearer understanding of what she meant. She wasn't implying that a Sharpie was our relationship. She's saying that the Sharpie is me.

"Yea Karen," I breathed. "I totally understand it."

The room became totally silent again with all the other employees staring at us. I could feel Pam staring at me with concern, but I really didn't feel like looking at her at the moment. After all, every time my heart flips when I see her, it reminds me of who I left behind. I just didn't want to feel guilty, even if only a moment. Once again, the silence was broken by an exasperated sigh from the front of the room.

"Oh come one Karen! I was asking for an opinion about how much you like Sharpies! Ugh, you know what, whatever, meeting is over." With that, Michael opened the door and went back into his office, where he could mope about the colorful little markers as much as he wanted.

The rest of us filed out of the room, no one daring to look at Pam, Karen, or me in the eye. I walked out, but didn't sit back down in my desk. Instead I leaned against Karen's desk and waited for her to come out. As she came out of the room, she looked at me with a cold stare and sat done at her desk

"If you came for an apology about what I said back there, you aren't going to get one." She said, crossing her arms. "I said what I had to say and I meant it 100."

"I know." I said. "I just want to know if you could ever forgive me and we could be friends again."

She just stared at me tight lipped, her eyes looking sadder. "Answer this truthfully," she whispered, taking my hand. "Do you truly love Pam?"

I took a deep breath and nodded slightly. I couldn't lie to her, not after all that I've already done to harm her.

Smiling, she squeezed my hand and let it go. "Well, I can't keep you from happiness. Good luck and remember I'm always here."

With that, she turned to her computer screen and didn't take another glance at me. I stared at her for a moment, not really knowing what to say. She's stronger then she looks, I know she'll get out of this one okay.

Straightening myself, I walked over to the receptionist's desk. Pam looked up at me with still worried eyes. I could read those eyes like books by now, so all I did was smile. Pam herself broke out into a beautiful smile and my heart did about four flips just then. Only this time, the pain eased a little.

"Do you think I'm a Sharpie?" I don't know what just drove me to ask that, but I did.

Pam bit the inside of her cheek. "Yes and No." she said. "First off, no because you don't smell bad and you don't last that short, thankfully."

I smiled. Truly she knows a lot about me and I'm glad I had chosen her.

"Yes, because everything you do leaves a mark on me, good and bad."

I frowned. "You know I would do anything to make the bad things disappear."

She nodded. "Yea, but only the bad things are in Sharpie. Although Karen said they're permanent, she's wrong. They do fade, it just takes a while. For me, they last a long time, but I think without the good times, they might've lasted longer."

"Well, what are the good times written in?"

"Not what, where. They're written in my soul, which is permanent, for real. There's not another chance to get another soul, so I do my best to keep the best in there."

"Beesly, you got a poet inside of you. Which one did you eat?" I teased.

She punched my arm and grinned. "Are you really sure you and Karen are going to be okay with this?"

I nodded. "You might not know it, but she's a lot stronger then she looks."

"I could never do that. Every time you would blow me off, I felt like my heart was going to rip and I'd just cry at home. Karen knows how to stand tall." She lowered her head, embarrassed she had said that.

"You've been through much more than she has, it's understandable. You are definitely strong, look how long you've come." I whispered soothingly.

A silence came for us to just wander in our own minds. My mind was practically going to burst from not hearing her answer, when she muttered, "Give me your hand."

Surprised, I stuck out my hand and Pam held it. In the other hand was a teal Sharpie and began drawing on the top of my hand.

"Beesly, who knew you were such a criminal? Having illegal items in this office is not allowed!" I exclaimed.

"Shut up." she said laughing. She capped the Sharpie and let go of my hand so I could get a closer look at what was on my hand now.

She had drawn a frowny face and underneath read "I'm just a bad memory, but I'll fade over time.'

'Sweet' I thought, and smiled at her. "Okay, how many poets did you eat?"

She scoffed and threw her pen at me.

Laughing, I picked it up and set it her desk. "So, dinner again tonight?" Wow, this asking out thing was getting easier by the minute.

Grinning, Pam replied, "I'd like that." She grabbed my hand again and just held it. Her hands were so small and warm against mine. "Is this what happily ever after is supposed to feel like?" she asked, looking and sounding like a little child. God, she would never stop surprising me.

I was about to respond when I heard a cry of joy in Michael's office. He rushed out yelling, "THEY LIFTED THE SHARPIE BAN! WE NEED A PARTY! FREE SHARPIES FOR EVERYONE! KEVIN, GET THE SNACKS! WHERE'S ANGELA, THAT PARTY PLANNER?"

He went over to the kitchen and made a face "Yuck, you two, get a room or do it at the Sharpie party. Ryan, get them presentable and Angela, get crackin' with the party planning. The party needs to happen TODAY!" He walked back to his office then he saw Pam and me. "You two…" he said slowly, walking towards us.

Pam quickly let go of my hand and I let my arms hang limply at my sides. We both looked at Michael with blank stares.

He thought for a moment and smiled. "You two!" he exclaimed, pointing at us. "You go buy the Sharpies! We need at least fifty! We should use them for relay races or something. DWIGHT, WHEN YOU'RE DONE, COME TO MY OFFICE AND HELP ME FIGURE OUT SOME GAMES!"

He walked away leaving us both a bit surprised. We stared at each other with raised eyebrows, but then laughed.

"Well, let's go buy those Sharpies." I said still grinning, walking over to the coat rack. I put my jacket on and gave Pam hers.

Pam took it and started to put her arms through the sleeves. "But you never answered my question." She stood there, waiting for an answer.

I pretended to think and then put my hand on her shoulder. "As long as Michael never gets word of it, I think we're good." I said in a serious tone.

Pam laughed as we both walked out of the building and to my car, holding hands. I hope this never ends up as a mistake.

This is my very first fanfic, so you can tell that this story isn't all that great.

Just want to say thanks if you've read my story and a review or two would be nice (but it's optional, I can't force you)

I might start on something new, like in the Anime/Manga criteria, so if you've got ideas, I'd love to hear them (plotline wise)

Thanks again for reading and please do not dictate my grammar!

Disclaimer- I do not own any of The Office characters (Pam, Jim , Karen , Michael, Dwight, etc.)

Only the plotline is mine...and maybe a few Sharpies