Chapter 3:
For the next few days, Roy was persistent in trying to get Pam to go to the prom with him. It no longer had to do with the fact that she seemed cute, or that he desperately needed a date to the prom. No, things had gotten personal. He needed to prove to himself, and to the rest of the school, that he could win her over. He'd tried everything. He arrived at her locker with flowers. He'd asked her out through the morning announcements. He'd even written her a song which he had played for her on his guitar while singing, though not very well. All of these attempts would have easily wooed every other girl in the school. Yet Pam would only awkwardly shake her head and move away from him as quickly as she could. Roy didn't understand. How on earth was he supposed to impress this girl?
Jim took Pam's hand, golden sunlight shining down on his adorable messy hair. Pam locked eyes with him and saw his deep, brown eyes light up. A wide smile spread across his face as he threw his head back and laughed. Slowly, his gaze moved back to Pam. She could hear her heart pounding in her chest as he mouthed those three words "I love you". Pam stood on her tippy toes as Jim leaned in, closing the gap of light between them. He wrapped one arm around her waist, and twirled her hair in his fingers. Pam moved in to kiss him, when suddenly he pulled away. Pam stared at him in shock.
"Pam?"Jim asked in a loud, confused tone. The voice didn't sound like him. It was more...annoying.
"Jim, what?" Pam began, unsure of what was going on.
"Pam?" Jim repeated. "Pam? PAM? PAM!" His voice was sounding less and less like Jim's, and more like...
"PAM!" Michael shouted.
Pam lurched out of her seat and looked up at Michael. She must've dozed off. She was exhausted from the night before, and her head was still throbbing despite the fact that she'd taken an aspirin that morning. She tried not to think about the dream she'd just experienced. Instead she slowly rubbed her eyes and looked up at her boss.
"What, what is it Michael?"
"Pam, Pam, Pam," Michael began, shaking his head, "always falling asleep on the job. Maybe you shouldn't be spending so many late nights with Roy." A smirk spread across Michael's face.
Pam awkwardly looked away. After making her uncomfortable for a little bit longer, Michael turned and walked away. Pam groaned and put her head back down on her desk, nodding back off to sleep. This time however, she dreamt of a memory.
Eighteen-year-old Pam Beesley scurried down the hallway, with the usual headphones in her ears and a pile of art projects in her arms. She dodged her way through the crowd of teenagers, gossiping about whatever the latest news was, when suddenly, she was confronted.
Missy Faude was the most popular girl of Pam's senior class. She was head cheerleader, and class president. Not only was she pretty with her tiny figure and her flowing dirty blond hair, but she was also smart too. She took the highest classes that were available for students to take, and she never received any grade lower than an A-. She was basically Miss High School. It was quite annoying actually. "Pam Beesley!" Missy exclaimed, flipping her hair dramatically. "Is it true that Roy Anderson asked you to prom?" "What?" asked Pam, surprised that Missy even knew her name. She pushed her headphones down to her neck. "Oh, uh, yeah, he did." "And is it also true that you said no!" Missy cried, impatiently tapping her foot. "Yes," said Pam softly. "How dare you!" Missy yelled. "Every girl in the school has been anxiously waiting to see who Roy would decide to take the prom. And then he asks you, a nobody who should feel blessed that he even looked in your direction, and you reject him? Who do you think you are?" Pam didn't know what to say. Clearly Missy couldn't even begin to fathom why Roy would ask someone like Pam over a perfect girl like herself. Then again, Pam didn't really understand it either. Finally, Pam opened her mouth to speak, but before she could respond, Missy stormed off in a huff. Pam sighed, glad that she would be graduating soon. She put her headphones back on, and turned to her locker, finding none other that Roy Anderson himself waiting for her there. Pam rolled her eyes and turned up the music, trying to block him out. "Hey," said Roy loudly, trying to speak over the loud noises blasting out of Pam's headphones. "Can I talk to you? Hey!" Pam reluctantly turned off her CD player. "What?" she said, sounding irritated. "I just wanna talk," said Roy simply, "there's an ice cream shop right down the street. Will you meet me there after school? I know you take the bus, so I'll drive you home afterwards." Pam didn't know how Roy had learned that she rode the bus, but realized that if she didn't agree to this, Roy would never give up. "Fine," she agreed, "but after this, you have to promise to leave me alone." Roy nodded, "deal." "Okay, well, see you there then." Pam said, turning and walking away.
A grin spread across Roy's face. It was only a matter of time.
Later at lunch, Pam sat in the break room, eating some mixed-berry yogurt she had pulled out of the fridge. Mixed berry had always been her favorite flavor, ever since she could remember. Sometimes she couldn't recall why she liked it so much, but she enjoyed having it there all the same. Pam swirled her yogurt around with her spoon, trying not to think about the dream she'd had earlier. It wasn't like people can control what they dream about. There was no reason why she should get freaked out. Even if her dream was about...
"So, hows the yogurt?" said Jim, a warm smile on his face.
"Good," said Pam contently.
Jim nodded. "Nice. Mixed berry's always a good choice."
Pam smiled. "It's my favorite."
"I know," said Jim softly.
Pam looked up at Jim. She thought about her dream, and tried not to believe that she'd enjoyed it. She suddenly wondered what it would be like to kiss Jim, realizing that she never got the chance to in the dream. She felt herself slowly leaning closer to him, and him moving near her as well. Their elbows touched and Pam's eyes widened as she saw Jim reach for her hand. Realizing what was going on, she snapped back in her chair away from Jim. Frantically, she looked up at the clock.
"It's um, it's time for, l-lunch is over," said Pam, sounding flustered.
Jim leaned back against the wall, trying not to seem embarrassed. "Oh, yeah," he said.
"I should really get back to work."
"Yeah, of course. Go ahead."
So Pam quickly hurried out of the room unintentionally slamming the door behind her. Jim groaned and slammed his head on the table .
Pam walked through the door of the ice cream parlor. Heads turned as she walked in and Pam realized that this was the place where most of the popular people in her school hung out. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Missy Faude glaring at her, her face green with envy. Already she began to regret coming. She was debating whether or not it was too soon to turn and leave, when she saw Roy, who was standing in line, waving to her. Realizing it was too late to change her mind, Pam walked up to Roy.
"Hey," said Roy smiling, "you made it."
Pam nodded nervously. "It wasn't that hard to find the place," she mumbled.
"Well," Roy went on, "what'll it be? Ice cream, frozen yogurt, or water ice?"
"One small mixed berry frozen yogurt please," Pam said to the employee.
"Nice choice, make that two please," Roy agreed.
After receiving their frozen yogurt, Pam and Roy took a seat down at a table in the corner of the shop. For a while they just sat there, eating their yogurt in silence. After she finished, Pam played with her napkin. She had no idea what she was supposed to say to Roy. She knew it would seem anti-social, but part of her longed to just take out her headphones and block everyone out, the way she normally did. Apparently, Roy had noticed her habit as well.
"So," Roy began, "what is it that your always listening to in those headphones of yours anyways?"
"What?" said Pam, startled.
"Whenever I see you, you're always listening to some CD. I'm interested. What type of music do you listen to?"
"N-nothing," said Pam, "just the usual stuff."
"Come on," Roy continued. He looked down at her backpack and saw her headphones sticking out. He reached across the table and pulled out her CD player. "Can I open it?"
"Okay," said Pam, quietly giving in.
Roy flipped open the CD player, and twirled her CD around in his hands. He raised his eyebrows. "You listen to Gin Blossoms?"
"Kind of, yeah," said Pam, afraid that Roy would think they were some cheesy teen-heart throb band.
"Me too!" said Roy excitedly. "They're one of my favorite bands."
Pam looked up at Roy hopefully. "Really? Everyone's heard of their song Hey Jealousy, but I kind of like some of their less popular songs."
Roy's eyes lit up, "my favorite one is their song, As Long As It Matters. How does that one line go? Even as it crashes down on me. I'm looking around, there's nothing that I could want more than to tell you, there's no more than we've already got. I'll be all right, as long as it matters,"
"As long as you're here with me now. Forget that our time is almost up I'll be all right." Pam continued. She felt a smile spread across her face.
Roy grinned, "That's good stuff."
Pam looked down at the table, embarrassed. She couldn't believe she was sitting in an ice cream parlor, quoting songs with Roy Anderson of all people. She glanced over him and felt an awkward silence emerging. She tried to think of something else to talk about.
"You know," she said eagerly, "it's funny that you should mention that song, because for one of my art projects, we had to use music lyrics. And I actually chose that same line."
"Really?" asked Roy, sounding intrigued. "Do you have it with you?"
Pam nodded and pulled the painting out of her backpack, handing it to Roy. She watched as Roy's eyes widened and gasped slightly.
"This is really good," he said in amazement. The painting was of two people holding hands, with the lyrics flowing around the margins. "I mean it," said Roy earnestly, "I'm sorry I have no artistic talent so, I don't really know how to offer any perspective."
Pam laughed, "that's okay."
"Pam you're really talented. Are you going to pursue art in college?"
Pam shrugged, "I don't know, I'll probably take a few classes, I guess."
"Good," said Roy, sounding satisfied, "that's, that's good."
Pam blushed. Although she'd never admit it, part of her found Roy slightly, charming.
Jim angrily placed animated solitaire cards on top of each other. He swore as he was once again stuck. He put his head in his hands and pulled at his hair. He hated himself for screwing things up like that. What was he thinking, touching Pam's hand? Who did he think he was, Roy? Jim sighed, he didn't even want to let Roy cross his mind. All he wanted to do was be close to Pam, to let her know that he would be there for her. But of course he couldn't do that. He parted his fingers and took a peek at Pam. She was busy typing diligently on the computer. Jim couldn't help but feel disappointed. He didn't have the smallest effect over Pam. He couldn't even make her feel flustered.
"Someone's having a bad day," Dwight snorted.
Jim rubbed his eyes and looked over at Dwight. "Thanks Dwight," he said, "because you talking to me, just made it completely better."
Dwight pouted his lip. "Poor Jim," he mocked, "it must be hard not to be the number one salesperson at Dunder Mifflin."
Jim rolled his eyes.
"But then again," Dwight went on, "I guess that after working with me for so long, by now you should be used to watching other people get the things that you want."
Jim stared wistfully at Pam. Then he turned to Dwight, a serious expression on his face. "You have no idea."
When Roy dropped Pam off to her house that day, Pam braced herself, ready for Roy to once again ask her to prom. But she was surprised when Roy merely thanked her for coming with him, told her he had a good time, and said goodbye. Pam awkwardly nodded and headed out of Roy's old, beat up red truck. She timidly waved goodbye, as Roy drove away. She couldn't comprehend what she was feeling inside, but part of her didn't feel right. Could she have been, disappointed? She tried to shake it off, telling herself that she was crazy, Roy had asked her over and over again and she'd repeatedly turned him down. Still, Roy had seemed so, determined. Why had he suddenly given up? Pam tried to deny what she knew must've been true. Roy had gotten bored with her and moved on. It made perfect sense. No one had ever been that interested in pursuing Pam in the past, why would anyone suddenly be now? Obviously Roy had realized that Pam just, wasn't worth it. Pam was angry at herself for getting upset over this. It was her own fault, after all. She'd been given plenty of opportunities to accept, and she didn't.
Pam ran out of time to contemplate the events that had just occurred, as her younger sister Penny hurried out to the front lawn. Pam and Penny were inseparable. They were only two years apart, and they told each other everything. Pam had always been secretly jealous of her though, with her curly light blond hair, deep blue eyes, and bubbly, giggly attitude. Still, Pam managed to dawn a smile as her sister hurried up to her.
"Was that Roy Anderson driving you home?" she asked excitedly.
Pam blushed, "yes, and you can calm down now because he's gone."
But Penny merely jumped for joy instead. "The entire school is talking about how Roy asked you to prom! How have you not said yes yet? Are you just playing hard to get?" She froze. "Oh my gosh, were you just on a date with Roy? So you are going to prom with him!"
Pam laughed and shook her head. "No, Penny, we were just getting ice cream." Penny raised her eyebrows. "As friends," Pam quickly added.
Penny moaned. "I can't believe you. You're easily the luckiest girl in the entire world, and you don't even know it."
"Well," said Pam smiling, "I'm lucky I've got you here to remind me."
Penny huffed. "Now I've lost all of my chances of ever becoming popular," she said bitterly, storming back into the house.
Pam chuckled slightly, but part of her wondered if perhaps Penny was right, maybe she should have said yes to Roy. Just for the heck of it. But she simply told herself there was no point in wondering about what could never be, and quickly followed after Penny.
Pam hopped out of her seat as the clock reached five. Eager to escape the dullness of the office, she raced out the door and headed down to the parking lot. As she looked around for Roy's truck, she noticed Jim sitting alone in his car. Hesitantly, she waved at him, and noticed his expression soften when he saw her. Glad to see that things were normal between them once again, Pam turned to leave, when she saw Jim beckon to her. Hoping that Roy wasn't nearby, she scurried over to Jim's car.
"Hey," he said, rolling down the window. "Sorry we didn't get to talk much today."
Pam shrugged. "It's cool, I'm sure we'll talk more tomorrow."
Jim nodded, "I'll make sure of that. So how was your day?"
"Horrible. I spent the entire time making animations on post-it notes. One was of Michael falling down some stairs."
Jim laughed. "You have to show me that later. Dwight has been driving me crazy, so I've got something planned for tomorrow. You in?"
Pam thought for a moment, remembering Roy's reaction to their last prank. Still, she didn't want Jim thinking that she didn't want him around. She figured she just needed to be more careful, and although she didn't like the idea of keeping secrets, all she had to do was make sure Roy never found out. "Definitely."
"So how'd your date with Pam go?" Chad teased, sounding cocky as he stood by Roy's locker.
"It wasn't a date," Roy said stubbornly. "And it was fine, thank you for asking."
Chad laughed and ran his fingers through his golden hair, winking at a girl walking by. He turned his gaze back to Roy. "Dude, why are you wasting so much over this girl? Vanessa was telling me-"
Roy stopped him. "Wait," he said, a confused look on his face, "who's Vanessa?"
Chad scoffed. "Don't you listen? Vanessa is the chick that I'm taking to prom."
Roy still seemed puzzled. "I thought that was Samantha."
"Nah, we broke up like a week ago, she got all jealous because apparently I flirt too much. Can you believe that?"
Roy tried to hold back his laughter. "Unbelievable," he said sarcastically.
"Anyways," said Chad, annoyed that Roy had let him get off topic, "Vanessa, on the other hand, was telling me that she has tons of hot friends who would kill to go the prom with you. So why don't you just give up on Pam and take someone who you'd actually have fun with."
"Thanks man," said Roy, "but I can't." He closed his locker loudly, and headed off to homeroom, with Chad trailing behind him.
Chad rolled his eyes. "If you say so. Did you at least ask Pam again at the end of your date? There's no way she'd be able to turn you down after ice cream with you. That one-on-one time thing gets girls every time."
Roy looked down at his feet. "Nope."
"What?" said Chad, stunned. "She said no? Wow man, she must really hate you."
Roy shook his head, "No, it's not that. I, I didn't ask her."
Chad groaned, getting sick of all of this drama. "What? Dude, why the hell not?"
Roy tried to think of the reason why himself. "I don't know," he whispered. "I mean, I was pretty confident that she'd say yes, but when the moment came, I couldn't make any words come out."
Chad stared at Roy, looking appalled and almost disgusted. "Are you serious? You, Roy Anderson, the guy who never gets nervous and can easily make every girl at Valley View High School swoon, got tongue tied by Pam Beesly? I don't get you."
"It's complicated," Roy insisted. "She's so...different from any other girl I've ever met. She's sweet, and shy, it's cute. And we like the same music. And she's so talented, she's an amazing artist. Suddenly, asking her out so spontaneously seemed so...wrong."
Chad gagged. "Well then think of some big gesture already, because your making me sick."
Roy thought for a moment. "I just don't know what I can do to show the girl how I really feel."
Chad moaned. "How you really feel?" he repeated, obviously horrified by his friend's newfound devotion, "you barely even know her."
Roy's eyes lit up. He beamed, looking over at Chad. "You're right," he said, clearly up to something. "I barely even know her."
After work, Pam sat quietly in Roy's car as they drove home. Roy had barely said a word to her, she couldn't tell if it whether he was still angry or ashamed about the night before. Wanting to fill the awkward silence, Pam flipped through the radio stations, searching for something decent. She smiled as she came to an old 90's station. As Long As It Matters by Gin Blossoms was playing. She looked up at Roy.
"Remember this song?" she said excitedly, hoping to cheer Roy up.
"Oh, yeah," Roy grunted, his eyes still on the road.
Pam tried not to feel let down. She couldn't expect Roy to remember every song from their past.
"I'll be alright, as long as it matters," she hummed softly to herself.
Pam Beesly filed into the school auditorium with the rest of the senior class, ready to listen to some boring lecture about their future and what to expect at college. She pushed her way through the crowd and saw her best friend Isabel waving to her. Isabel had always been very outgoing and a little bit eccentric, but Pam liked her that way. They were such opposites that in a weird way they kind of, worked. Pam sat down next to Isabel, who had taken a seat in the second row.
"Hey," said Pam, "why are we sitting so far in the front?"
"No reason," said Isabel, excitement on her face, "I just, heard that this assembly was supposed to be really interesting."
Pam eyed Isabel quizzically. It was evident that she knew something she didn't. Pam decided not to worry about it and looked up at the stage.
After listening to a guest speaker's boring lecture, Pam got up out of her seat to leave. However, the lights in the auditorium unexpectedly all went off. Pam looked around, trying to figure out what was happening. She turned to Isabel. "What's going on?" she mouthed. Isabel shrugged. Pam's eyes snapped back to the stage when a spotlight appeared on it. Suddenly she realized her foot was tapping. There was music playing. Pam listened more intently and jumped when she realized the song was As Long As It Matters by Gin Blossoms. One name came to her mind. Pam gasped as she saw Roy Anderson walk into the spotlight with a microphone in his hand. She stared at him in disbelief. No way, she thought to herself, He wouldn't.
Suddenly, Pam realized that the room was getting brighter. She turned her head, to see if the lights had been turned back on. But they hadn't been. Pam nearly fainted from surprise and embarrassment as she realized that another spotlight was shining down on her. Everyone went silent. Pam could feel their eyes on her. She covered her mouth in her hands, and gazed intently at Roy as he began to speak.
"I'm not going to sing this time," Roy began, laughing at himself, "I won't make you suffer more than once. But Pam Beesly, you're unlike anyone I've ever met, and you amaze me. It was wrong of me to ask you to prom so casually." Pam looked into his eyes and could tell that he was sincere. She was stunned. "And I know that I hardly know anything about you," he went on, "other than the fact that you love mixed berry yogurt, you listen to the Gin Blossoms, and you're an incredible artist." Roy stopped and looked down at his feet. "But I want to get to know you, at prom." He paused for a moment, then a smile spread across his face. "So what'll it be?" he asked. "Pam Beesly, will you go to the prom with me?"
Pam could hear people cheering and clapping. The applause gradually grew louder and faster. Unable to believe that she was actually doing this, she slowly stood up. With a timid smile upon her face, she nodded. "Okay," she said softly.
Roy grinned, and put a hand up to his ear. "What was that?" he teased. "I can't hear you Pam. You gotta speak up!"
Pam blushed. She cupped her hands around her mouth. "Yes!" she shouted.
The crowd roared and a wave of cheering broke out. Pam must've been blushing a hundred different shades of red. Roy was still smiling.
"Good," he said, Pam could hear the happiness in his voice, "I'll see you there."
A/N: There you go! I'm sorry it's been forever since I have updated! Finals were...not fun. But anyways, now it's summer so hopefully I will update more often. I didn't realize how long this chapter was until I had afterwards, hopefully that makes up for the long wait! The next chapter will probably focus mostly on Pam and Roy, but then I promise that the plot with Jim and Pam will really pick up after that! Thank you for all of the amazing reviews and please let me know what you think! Also, thanks to SamanthaLeigh422 for letting me know that Pam and Roy went to Valley View High School :) Oh and one more thing, there has been some formatting issues with this chapter that I am trying to fix, but if it has weird gaps in it, I apologize!