I'm still getting good response from this story so, I'm still going with it. This chapter is a little different that the rest. Dwight makes his first appearance, but not his last. I'll be bringing the every loverly Angela into the next chapter. I'm also planning on getting things moving hereā¦the next chapter will be a ways down the road again. But till I actually get that written, here's chapter 9.
Overreaction
def'n: to react to something with disproportionate action or excessive emotion
"Oh my God, Pam! You have to tell me all about it!" Kelly shrieked as she approached reception.
"Oh, um, Kelly, I really don't-"
"I'm gonna go put my coat and purse away and then you can tell me all about your date, okay? Okay." Kelly walked off towards the annex and Ryan leaned on the counter.
"I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but please tell her something." The look on his face showed what Pam had feared-Kelly had talked about her and Jim's date all weekend and would continue until she got the details.
"Okay."
"Thanks." He glanced in the direction Kelly went and then looked back at Pam, "I just wanted to tell you, I'm glad you two finally got together."
"Oh, it was just a date."
"Okay." Ryan looked skeptical, but winked at her before retreating to his desk. He had just sat down when Kelly returned, more excited than before.
"Okay Pam, I want details. Where did you guys go? Did you have fun? Was he nice? Did you kiss?" she rambled. After a quick pause, "Well?"
"Um, well-" Just as she started to relay the date to Kelly, the office door opened and Jim entered. He stopped to hang his coat up, looking at Pam as he did.
"Morning Pam, Kelly."
"Morning Jim. Pam was just going to tell me all about your date."
He hadn't stopped looking at Pam, "Really?" She looked away from him, staring down at her desk. "Well, have fun with that." He walked to his desk and sat down, avoiding Ryan's half gaze.
Kelly had already turned her attention back to Pam. She loudly whispered, "Doesn't he look so cute today?"
Pam looked up at Kelly finally, "Hey Kelly, can we talk about this later? I have some faxes to do for Michael this morning." She didn't wait for an answer. Standing, she turned her back to her and walked to the fax machine. Kelly looked shell-shocked, but quietly retreated back to the annex. When Pam turned to sit back down at her desk, she was surprised to see Jim perched by the candy dish. "Jim."
"Pam, we need to talk about this," he whispered.
"No," she hissed as she sat down.
"Come on, Pam. Please talk to me for five minutes."
"No. You've said enough."
"You have to let me explain."
She leaned forward to keep their conversation more private. "You already did that. You're not happy with my decision to wait."
"Pam, honey, it's not like that. Please, have lunch with me and let me try to explain."
She glared at him for a moment, "Fine."
"Thank you." He returned to his desk silently. She didn't look at him again until lunch.
At noon, he appeared at her desk. He waited until she looked over her monitor at him to speak, "So, you want to go out or stay here?"
"Are you serious with that question?" She hit the automatic voicemail button on the phone, got up, grabbed her coat, and walked towards the door. They met at the elevator. Nothing was said between them the entire ride down, nor in the parking lot, nor in his car as he drove to Cugino's. Once they had ordered their drinks, Jim spoke quietly, "I'm sorry."
She rested her cheek on her hand, propping her head up to look at him. "So, are you going to explain what the hell last night was all about?"
"Here's the thing; I love you Pam. I really am in love with you. I want this to work between us more than anything I've ever wanted before."
"Me too," she whispered almost inaudibly.
"But, see, you wanting to wait for us having sex doesn't bother me. I could wait for you forever if I needed to, but the whole sleeping together without sleeping together thing is beginning to really kill me. I mean, I don't want to push you into that until you're ready."
"Jim-"
"Wait, see, I'm in this for the long haul." He took a deep breath before he continued, "I want-I'd like to be able to-I want to marry you someday." He stopped heard her deeply inhale. He looked up to see her sitting back, tears in her eyes. "I just can't spend the night at your place anymore until you're ready."
"Why didn't you say all this stuff last night?"
"Well, when I said I wasn't staying with you anymore and you threw a tube of paint at my head, I figured it would be better if I left."
She made a sound that was a cross between a laugh and a sigh. "Oh God." She put her hand over her face and began to lightly giggle.
"What's so funny?"
"I'm an idiot. When you told me that you couldn't stay with me, I thought you were breaking up with me." She pulled her hand away from her face and looked at him. "That makes me your crazy girlfriend, doesn't it?"
He sat back suddenly, a large, goofy grin covering his face.
"See, it does."
"No, it's not that; you've just never referred to yourself as my girlfriend before. But yes, you are my crazy girlfriend now."
She smiled back at him. "Good. I wouldn't want to be anyone else's crazy girlfriend."
"I love you Beasley."
"I love you too Halpert."
They finished their lunch quickly though neither wished to rush back to the office. They sat in his car outside the restaurant for ten minutes, kissing, when his cell phone rang. He groaned as he pulled back from her, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. He looked up at her, "It's Dwight."
She leaned back against the passenger side door, crossing her arms over her chest, "Gee, that's peachy."
He let out a laugh before going to open the phone. She reached out quickly, snatching the phone from his hands. "Hold on, I have an idea." She straightened up in her seat before flipping the phone open, "Dunder-Mifflin, this is Pam."
"Oh, hello Dwight. Jim's cell phone? No, I'm not answering Jim's cell phone."
Jim reached over and hit a button on the side of the phone, causing Dwight's voice to fill the car via speakerphone.
"Pam, I'm telling you, I called Jim's cell phone."
"No, Dwight, you must be mistaken, I'm sitting right here at my desk talking to you."
"Pam-I'm sitting at my desk and the two of you are not here and I called Jim's cell phone."
Jim put the car into drive and made their way back to the office as Pam continued to talk to Dwight.
"Dwight, it's true, Jim and I went out for lunch-"
"And now you're almost a half an hour late getting back."
"No, we've been back for a while. Dwight, I'm not sure why you would say we're not here. Jim's at his desk and so am I."
"Pam, I'm looking at your desk right now and you are NOT there."
"Are you feeling okay, Dwight? Do you have a fever? I've heard that if you have a fever you can have delusions and-"
"I am NOT having delusions. You and Jim are not back from lunch and I'm telling Michael that you're not here."
"Maybe you should go splash some water on your face and see if that helps any. I really don't think you're feeling well and that might help."
"Well-"
"I just don't want you going and telling Michael we're not here, when we are, and making a fool of yourself. That's just something that would ruin everyone's day. I know it."
"Okay. Fine, but if you're still not here when I come back from the men's room, I'm going to talk to Michael."
"That's fine." Pam shut the phone quickly before breaking out into a fit of giggles.
Jim turned off the car and looked at her, a smile forming on his face. "I must say Beasley, nice going there, but we have to get upstairs quick before Dwight gets back to his desk."
She stopped giggling and flipped open his phone, dialing quickly, "Hey, Phyllis, it's Pam. Hey, good, um, could you do me a favor and stall Dwight for a few minutes? Yeah, just make sure he doesn't get beck into the office till Jim and I get back up there. No, we're in the parking lot. Okay, thanks." She shut the phone and looked over to Jim lovingly.
"I knew there was a reason I loved you."
"I'm so glad my quick thinking leaves you weak-kneed."
"It absolutely does."
They were back at their desks when Dwight came into the office, looking confused and angry. "I see what this is."
Pam looked up from her computer and smiled at him. "Feeling better?"
"You sent me to the bathroom so that you could come into the office. Didn't you? And you were in on it." He pointed at Jim who gave him a "who me?" look.
"We were here the whole time, Dwight. Maybe you should go home; you still don't look so good."
Ryan looked slightly to his right and then up at Dwight, "Yeah, Dwight, they were here. You should go home for the day."
Dwight looked confused, but then made his way to Michael's office. After a few minutes he emerged and, grabbing his things, left the office. Jim just looked at Ryan, who had gone back to his work.
"Thanks for covering for us man."
Ryan looked up and smiled slightly, "Hey, no problem. Dwight was driving me crazy the entire time you were gone. Now maybe I can actually get some work done." He looked to Pam who was smiling at him.
"Thanks Ryan, we owe you."
"Yeah, you do." He winked at her and went back to his work.
She nodded and got up from her desk, walking towards the annex. Squealing could be heard moments later. Ryan was turned, facing that direction when Pam came back. She was holding a hand to her ear and grimacing. She paused when she reached him, "We are so even now."
He nodded and watched her go back to her desk. Jim turned and smiled at her, but when his smile was received with a shake of her head, he turned back to his desk, Ryan doing the same. Obviously Kelly had enjoyed Pam and Jim's date as much as they had-or most likely a little more.
Overreaction
def'n: Pam throwing paint at Jim, Dwight calling Jim, Kelly hearing about the date
Remember, reviews are always appreciated(especially when they have constructive criticism in them). I can promise nothing in terms of how fast the next chapter will be up since I have midterms this week and I don't want to fail out of college, but I will do my best to get it out in a week or so.
