Title: Innocent Conversations
Author: Megan Johnston
Fandom: The Office
Character/Pairing: Pam POV, with Pam/Jim obviously
Rating: PG
Spoilers: general season 3
Summary: Short little vignette, about Pam and Jim sharing some time in the break room.
Author's Note: I'm playing with present tense third person narration, I'm experimenting with a new style here so be gentle. Usually I write past tense so if I slip and do that, kindly correct me.
She's sitting in the breakroom, her back to the door as she idly stirs her yogurt. It has peaches in it and she doesn't particularly like it, but it'd been the last one in her fridge. She needs to go to the grocery tonight on her way home from work. Staring into the plastic yogurt cup at the little bits flecks of yellow and orange peach, she frowns slightly. She can't help but think of him, even though she tries not to. That patented little half-smile of his. The way his hair curls slightly and flips out. And those eyes. Those eyes that have the perment twinkle of mischief in them.
A sudden noise startles her and she turns to see who it is. There he stands, the object of her unvoiced desire. He smiles, gives her a small nod and heads for the vending machine.
"Whatcha doing Beesly?" he asks, popping in his quaters and making his selection. The machine whirs to life and a bag of chips drop from their row to the bottom. He bends to retrieve his purchase, then straightens to look at her.
"Just enjoying my break," she shrugs. "Or I would be if this yogurt wasn't so gross."
"What's wrong with it?" he asks, taking a seat across from her. He pops a chip in his mouth and crunches it loudly.
"I just don't really like peach yogurt."
"Then why'd you buy it?" he asks with a grin.
She rolls her eyes, "It came in the variety pack I bought," she replies. "I didn't want to waste it, so I thought I'd at least try it."
"I see, I see," he says nodding thoughtfully. He pops another chip in his mouth, "So what does Pam have planned for this upcoming weekend? Any skydiving lessons, or maybe fighting crime as a masked superhero?"
He's smiling, teasing, and she hesitates to admit that her weekend is far from exciting in comparison to anything, let alone skydiving lessons. Her plans were to rent a bunch of chick flicks and then sit at home with a plethora of junk food. Alone. Again. Her social calendar was completely empty. She just couldn't get back into the flow of dating. Not that she'd ever really been in the flow of dating. Roy had been the only man she'd ever really dated and in fact the only man she'd kissed until...well...Jim.
She swallows a bit of yogurt, "Well..." she begins, "Tempting as those suggestions are, I was more looking forward to a quieter weekend. One that hopefully had no life and death situations. What about you? Doing anything special with Karen?"
Karen.
The woman she wants to hate, but can't. The woman who Jim had found after she'd rejected him. It was her own fault for pushing him away, she knew that. There were a thousand buts and what ifs that bothered her, flitting around inside her head at the most in-oppurtune moments, but it was too late now.
Or was it?
At the mention of his girlfriend, his smile falters ever so slightly and his eyes cloud. He doesn't speak, and she doesn't either. The silence stretches between them, the tension quivering. Her breath catches in her throat, hardly daring to hope...
But then it's broken by the arrival of Michael, whose in full blown comedy routine mode.
"Do you know...the muffin man?" he asks in a very serious voice.
She knows he's hamming it up for the camera crew again, and wonders how long the camera had been outside watching her and Jim. She wishes they'd finish their documentary and leave. Every time she and Jim start to have a serious conversation, they're there with the large boom mics looming overhead.
Jim catches her eye and jerks his head towards Michael who is rambling about fairy tales and cartoons. His expression is priceless and Pam stiffles a giggle so she won't encourage Michael's attempts at comedy.
"Well, I've got to get back to work actually Michael," Jim says, standing up. "Why don't you have Dwight do that for you? I'm sure he'd love to."
"Ah! Excellent! Yes, Dwight..." Michael agrees, before heading off and calling for Dwight.
"Catch ya later Beesly," Jim says, before following in Michael's disruptive wake.
"Yeah," she says quietly. "Later."
She sits there, still stirring her yogurt and wondering. She knows he's having problems with Karen. She almost hopes she's the source of some of the problems, but she doesn't want to flatter herself. Karen's gorgeous and exotic looking and she's...well Pam. Just Pam. Plain old Pam. Nothing exciting about her. And yet...
He'd loved her once. He'd told her, and then kissed her. Then she'd turned him down.
And he'd backed away, let go of her hands and left.
But not without leaving a mark.
She sighs, this isn't helping and the peach yogurt is making her stomach turn. She stands and tosses out her garbage before returning to her seat at reception.