can't believe we're past 20k words AND 10 chapters already! wow. thanks for the continued reviews and follows/favourites and even views; without them i probably wouldn't still be writing this.
title taken from: "Pride" by Amy MacDonald :)
Pam slept through both her alarm and the extra 10 minutes snooze time she allowed herself, and by the time she finally woke up it was almost 11:30 and she knew she had missed breakfast.
Her head hurt like hell, and her mouth felt dry, like cotton. Her roommate was gone, but had apparently left her a large bottle of water and some aspirin on her desk. At the moment, she really wasn't in any mood to move, but despite this, she grit her teeth and struggled up into a sitting position. She stretched out an arm to grab the water, uncapping it with an alarming amount of difficulty, and took a few grateful gulps. It wasn't doing anything for her headache, but at least her mouth felt less like she'd been wandering in the Sahara for weeks, and more like she'd been chewing sandpaper, which in the current circumstances was a great improvement.
She took the aspirin immediately after, and made a mental note to thank Kelly for her efforts, but soon just retired back to her previous lying position in bed, and allowed herself to sink back into the pillows.
What had even happened the night before? She couldn't remember much. All she knew for sure was that she was mad at Roy for, well, being the way he was, and that her only goal for that night was to get as drunk as possible.
Oh, how she regretted that decision.
Perhaps the strangest recollection she had about the party was the general /feeling/ she had when she tried to remember what had happened: she felt as though she had kissed someone. But her boyfriend hadn't been at the party.
She racked her brain fruitlessly, trying desperately to just remember; remember what happened the previous night, remember any potentially embarrassing things she may have done or said, remember who on Earth she could have kissed…
Jim was the only person she knew who was there, but surely not-
Shit.
She'd kissed her best friend while she was drunk.
"Hey, do you know where Pam is?" Jim stopped Kelly on her way to the canteen, where she was supposedly meeting Ryan. "She wasn't at lunch, and she never skips lunch."
"Last time I saw, she was asleep. From the state she was in when you dropped her off last night, she'll definitely have a major hangover. I left her some water and aspirin, but she hadn't touched them when I left."
"Thanks," Jim replied, feeling deflated. He couldn't believe he'd let Pam, his friend, get so drunk. Especially after he had promised her (admittedly awful) boyfriend that he would take care of her.
Kelly smiled in response to his politeness, and disappeared into the canteen. Meanwhile, Jim wondered if it would seem weird if he texted Pam for the 5th time that day.
When she turned her phone on, Pam had 7 unread texts.
FROM: Roy Anderson
TO: Pam
hows the party goin?
FROM: Kelly Kapoor
TO: Pam
left u some water + aspirin! text when u feeling better, we're worried :(
FROM: Jim Halpert
TO: Pam
hope you're alright after last night. kelly didn't show up to breakfast, so me, dwight, and ryan had some quality awkward bonding time.
FROM: Jim Halpert
TO: Pam
text when you wake up? we're all pretty worried. even dwight is concerned.
FROM: Jim Halpert
TO: Pam
dwight thinks you might have malaria. i'd get that checked out if i were you… dwight's usually right about these things. he wants to put you in quarantine, btw
FROM: Jim Halpert
TO: Pam
i hope you feel better soon. i think i am going insane being surrounded mostly by dwight all day. i'm beginning to consider a career in beet farming. SEND HELP.
FROM: Kelly Kapoor
TO: Pam
jim's askign about u! HE is VERY worried and wont stop talking + its a little annoying so pls text him back or w/e
She caught herself grinning when she read about Dwight's antics, but soon the guilt started to creep in. They all seemed pretty worried about her, and she didn't really blame them - she knew she didn't usually seem like the type of person to sleep in until the afternoon after getting too drunk on a night out.
Roy's text surprised her - she hadn't expected him to remember that she was even going out, and even then, she didn't think he would have texted unless he thought something interesting was going on. The way he had composed the text sounded desperate, however, as if he wanted an immediate response, so she considered it a small victory that she hadn't replied sooner; had kept him in turmoil for a little while, at least.
Jim seemed to be acting normal in the texts, and she definitely was glad of that. He was acting like whatever happened the previous night - the kiss, whatever that meant - hadn't happened. She wondered whether this was because he assumed she wouldn't remember it, or because he didn't consider it to be significant.
(She hoped it was the former.)
She decided to reply to Kelly first, as she was her roommate and probably the person most impacted by her virtual absence.
FROM: Pam
TO: Kelly Kapoor
hey, just woke up. thanks for the water and aspirin, it's helped a lot. sorry to worry you!
The little blue sending bar had just finished its path across the top of the screen when her phone vibrated in her hand, showing yet another text had came in.
FROM: Jim Halpert
TO: Pam
we're all kinda worried about you right now, so if you're awake then can you please text back? even kelly's getting a little concerned.
No sooner than she had finished reading it had another one came in.
FROM: Jim Halpert
TO: Pam
ps. i'm really sorry about everything that happened last night. i should have taken care of you. i hope you're not mad at me.
She frowned at his latest text. How could he think she was mad at him? She could never be mad at him. The thought of being mad at him, or simply angry at something he did or said, was just inconceivable. Her thumbs tapped out a message back almost instantly.
FROM: Pam
TO: Jim Halpert
sorry i didn't reply sooner, i just woke up. i'm really sorry everyone was so worried about me! i'm fine. killer headache, but i guess i chose this punishment last night. sorry to abandon you with dwight and ryan. :(
It was a little impersonal in comparison to the texts he had sent, but it would have to do.
She had almost forgotten about Roy, and once she remembered was still in no hurry to reply to him. Eventually she managed to compose a suitable message, entailing vague details about the party and leaving out almost everything else.
Jim grinned when he saw Pam had replied, finally. He missed her, even though it had been less than a day since he last saw her. It sucked, having to hang around with Dwight, Ryan, and Kelly all day without Pam to share glances and sarcastic remarks with.
(They were best friends, right? It was purely natural to feel that way about your best friend being gone for a while.)
FROM: Jim
TO: Beesly
good to know you're okay. and i forgive you for your heinous crimes - but theres so much i need to tell you. being with dwight and ryan is like being in another world. seriously.
next chapter: THREAT LEVEL MIDNIGHT. ;))
