He wasn't a terrible person.
No, if anything, Roy Anderson was just... shallow. There were worse things to be, Pam figured. Yeah, it's not exactly something to celebrate, but he never hurt her or anything. He had trouble seeing past the here and now. He definitely had trouble thinking about anyone except himself.
And he'd offered her sex as a Valentine's present. So... yeah.
But even when he threw the glass, even when he yelled at her, she didn't hate him. Momentarily afraid of him, maybe. Angry, for sure. But never hate. Heck, the morning he rushed at Jim, she felt it again: fear and anger.
Not hate.
"All men are pigs," Kelly had told her once. She'd laughed along, but Kelly had an unusually serious look. "I mean it, Pam. They're only after one thing."
A little uncomfortable, she smiled and nodded. "Yeah. The ugly truth, right?"
Kelly's eyes lit up. "Oh my God, I love that movie!"
The conversation hadn't really gone anywhere, but it was enough to get her thinking. She was more than a little skeptical when he started talking to her again, weeks after the wedding was canceled, obviously trying to seem more mature and thoughtful.
But... he was trying. And listening. And at least making an attempt to be kinder.
Obviously that went out the window after a certain night at Poor Richard's.
So, after it had all passed, Pam thought she had a pretty good handle on how Roy worked. He was a guy, after all- he knew what he wanted, and when things didn't go his way, he didn't know how to deal with it. He panicked, and made some pretty awful mistakes.
Normal guy, mistakes. That was all.
Then he got fired.
Still, just a normal guy. Down on his luck. Rough couple of weeks.
And then he asked her to meet up for coffee.
...
She wasn't sure why she said yes. She supposed it might have been pity, since he seemed so forlorn and miserable. Or maybe it was just the good person in her telling her to hear him out. Or maybe she wasn't completely over him.
Nah, strike that last one.
Whatever the reason, she found herself sitting in a booth, with a window to the highway on one side, a menu full of expensive frozen drinks on the other, and one Roy Anderson in the middle. He said what she expected him to- that he was really sorry, and he never meant to hurt her, and he wished he could take it all back.
That was the first surprise. See, he wasn't pleading or hopeful. He looked... calm, almost. Still depressed, and truly regretting what happened, but he didn't seem to be asking for forgiveness or another chance. She nodded, not sure what to say.
He looked down to the cup in his hand, suddenly chuckling. "So, you gonna start dating Halpert now?"
Surprise number two.
Of course she stuttered, and of course she assured him that wouldn't happen, and of course she tripped up in her words. He just laughed again. "What, you're not even gonna try?"
That one took her breath away. Not because he was telling her to date Jim- he probably wasn't. But it stunned her because there was nothing, no hint of anything in his voice that said he was mad at her. No contempt, no disgust at the idea, no anger. He sounded like her denial honestly surprised him.
Teasing. Almost playful, friendly conversation. In fact, in that moment, he reminded her just a bit of Jim.
And she realized that maybe she didn't know Roy at all.
He shook his head, looking out the window. "I'll never figure you out, Pam."
For some reason, the words stuck with her.
And after they left, after they hugged each other and said goodbye, after she drove back home, she thought the same about him.
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I don't know a lot about romance. I see a lot of different shows try to write real, engaging, difficult relationships- dramatic stories where the whole point is to get you to care about the romance.
But The Office is a comedy. It feels like it's not even trying.
And it somehow writes one of the best romantic dramas I've ever seen.