Your Desk Mate Dwight
Hey, guys I just want to say thanks for reading the story so far, it's really been fun to write and I plan to do it for quite a while. I do however have Exams which will prevent me from posting Chapters as often as I have been. Tell me how to improve the story! Thanks
Chapter 10: Jim's Christmas.
Jim Halpert was having a splendid day in the Dunder Mifflin Scranton Office. He had made several sales over the day, which had boosted his commission and could mean that he would get a larger Christmas bonus than first anticipated. Apart from the part where Pam had a boyfriend, everything was turning up Halpert.
Jim looked at his watch. It read 12:14PM, Jim was wondering when Michael was going to start the Christmas party. Pam had told him all about what happens in the Christmas parties at Dunder Mifflin, and Jim was excited to see how it was all going to go down this year as it was the last Christmas of the millennia. He hoped that it was as good as cracked up to be.
Jim received a call, which he picked up instantly,
"Jim Halpert." He said professionally. He was surprised to see that it was his Mom who called him. She didn't call him very often at work,
"Hey, Jimmy I'm calling because-"she started.
"Mom, what is it?" Jim answered, concerned by the way she sounded.
"Your friend Julian passed away." She told him, straight up. She waited for a response, which she did not get. Jim couldn't believe what he had just heard. Julian had been his best friend in high school, they had played together on the basketball team but Julian had always been the better player. Jim's mom said in the light of Jim's silence,
"He was with his Girlfriend on the highway, in the passenger seat, when they swerved off the road from a reckless driver in the wrong lane. They both didn't make it." She said, before continuing, "Honey, if you want to talk, your father and I are here for you."
Jim's Mom hung up, which left Jim to his own thoughts. Jim didn't work for the next hour. He didn't know what to do, he considered going home but he didn't want to torture himself over it. He wanted to be around others, mostly Pam who could take his mind away from what he was just told.
35 minutes later, Michael called everyone under the tree for Secret Santa. Jim got the first gift, which was a knitted oven Mitt, with his name on it. Jim appreciated the effort that Phyllis put into it and gave her a high five and said, "Nice one, Phyllis I am going to use this all the time." Jim noticed Pam smiling at him, to his right. Jim caught himself staring at her, her smile back gave him Goosebumps.
…
The party had started to heat up. Jim caught Michael having an argument with Toby about the fact that he brought in Vodka and beer for the party. Jim was sitting by himself, feeling very distraught. He wondered if staying was the right decision after all. He noticed Pam walking towards him, with a Santa hat on her head, which Jim couldn't handle how cute she looked in it.
"Hey, how are you enjoying the party?" Pam asked him, sitting beside him on the desk.
Jim responded, smiling "Yeah, it's great you've really outdone yourself this time Beesly." Jim looked at her face, and she looked concerned.
"Jim, is anything wrong?" She asked him gently, putting her arm on his. Jim felt less wary of this than he would normally be, when he responded,
"Well…Um yeah actually." Jim said, gazing into her eyes, grateful that he was talking to her rather than Michael or Dwight about what he was about to say.
"You can tell me." Pam said, looking at him softly.
"It's just, one of my best friends from high school died yesterday, in a car accident." He told her, wondering how she would react. Jim was happy that he had told her. He looked at the floor for a minute, and when he looked up he saw her arms out in front of her. His heart was beating heavily in his chest, which made time seem to slow down as he put his arms around her quite forcefully, holding back tears. It still didn't seem right that Julian had died at 21 years old and he held back his tears with all his strength. They held each other for about a minute, Jim appreciated her warmth. Normally he would feel triumphant about this, but now his head was just full of memories of him and Julian.
Jim and Pam broke apart and looked at each other. He saw Roy walk in from the annex, with an angry expression on his face, "What you playing at, Halpert?!" Pam looked at him angrily and responded,
"His friend died, Roy." She said. Jim wasn't paying attention as the conversation continued. He wanted to get out of the office as soon as possible. Everything was fine until Roy turned up. Pam seemed to understand what he was thinking and said, "Jim you don't have to be here, I'll tell Michael and cover up for you alright." she gestured to Michael who was downing vodka with Kevin, oblivious to everything around him. Jim looked at her, and was very thankful for her saying that. She seemed to be getting better and better, if that was even possible.
"Thanks Pam." Jim said, as he walked out of the Office. He wanted to be away from it all, but he also felt sad that he wasn't going to see Pam and the rest of the office for another 2 weeks because of Christmas and the New Year.
…..
It was the 28th of December and Jim was with his roommate Mark, in a bar. It was 10:48PM. Jim was having a great time. He had spent a few days feeling down after Julian passed away, but Mark did a lot of stuff with Jim to take his mind away from it. Out of the corner of his eye, Jim saw Pam sitting down at the other end of the bar. Jim almost spilt his drink and nudged Mark. "Dude, that's Pam." He said, sneakily pointing to Pam. Mark looked at her and said,
"No, really that's her? Dude, she's hot." He said, admirably. Jim pointed towards Roy, who was walking into the bathroom.
"And that's her boyfriend." Jim said, nodding towards Roy.
"Crap, he's big man. I don't wanna mess with him."
"We are going over there. Act natural, don't give too much away, a'ight?" Jim told him, looking for confirmation. Mark nodded, which proceeded to them walking up to Pam.
"Hey." Jim said casually, taking the seat beside Pam. She looked over at saw it was Jim, which made her exclaim,
"Hey! Jim! How are you doing?" She said, grinning widely.
"I'm great, um Pam this is Mark, my roommate, Mark this is Pam." He introduced them to each other. Pam smiled and shook his hand, and Mark tried to look as calm as possible as he did so back.
"So, how does Pam Beesly find herself at the three olives bar at 11 O'clock at night?" Jim asked her, taking a sip of his drink. Pam responded,
"Well, I am just sitting here. Roy is meeting some of his pick-up basketball friends, so I tagged along." She said. Jim was biting hid lip in anger. How could a guy just leave a girl like Pam alone in a bar? He really did not deserve her.
"Okay, he just left you here." He responded, riskily. He noticed the look in her eye, when she knew that tone in his voice. She looked sad as she responded,
"Yeah." There was a silence for a second, before changing the subject, "How was your Christmas?"
"Great, a lot better than I thought it would be, with Julian and all. I spent the time with my family, had a lot of fun actually." Jim said, smiling at her. "I do miss messing with Dwight though."
"Yeah, me too. The only bad thing about holidays is not playing pranks on him." Pam said, matter of factly. Not wanting to bump into Roy, Jim said to Pam, "Me and Mark have got to meet some people soon, so we're gunna have to go."
Pam looked at him for a minute and said, "It's great to see you Jim. I'll see you at the office." Jim got up, finishing his drink,
"I'll catch you later, Beesly." He remarked, smiling warmly at her and walking out of the bar. Mark walked alongside Jim and once they got in the cab he said, "She seems great Man. You like her?" Jim looked back at him and said something he had only just realised himself, "Man, I love her."