Dallas, Texas

"I know it's Sunday but some delivery guy just dropped this off for you", handing his sister the regular sized, unstamped envelope, Cliff hovered over her, waiting for her to open it in front of him. He liked to think of himself as a protective older brother, in some respects though he was just nosy; in this case, he was both, Pam's mood had been up and down recently and she had been unusually quiet about why that was. Ordinarily, they were reasonably close, they had to be considering their family circumstances, it hadn't been easy growing up without a mother, especially with a father like theirs; their aunt Maggie did her best to help and support them, but she was only human and couldn't be everywhere all the time. As things were lately, they didn't feel particularly close, in fact, it felt like Pam was lying to him about how she had really been feeling, telling him she was fine when she clearly wasn't. There was a chance she was lying to herself more than him, denying her own feelings, even if that was the case though, she was still at the very least hiding something from him and he wanted to know what it was.

He had liked Frank and the few before him, in fact, he had liked most of the men his sister had chosen to date recently, her taste had certainly improved since high school, as had her judgement. He no longer feared she would do something stupid like run off and marry a man she barely knew, she'd already made that mistake once before, with Ed Haynes, and he was certain she'd learned her lesson from that experience. She had matured quite a bit in the years since high school, but she was still just a girl in many respects, she still needed guidance; holding that opinion of her, seeing her as she was lately worried him, it also fascinated him, because it wasn't like her to deliberately keep things to herself. He was curious about whatever, or whoever, was making her emotions fluctuate, not just because he was protective, but because her secretiveness was quite unlike her, so whatever it was had to be interesting.

"Thanks Cliff", accepting the envelope from her brother, Pam caught on quickly to his agenda when instead of leaving her bedroom as he usually did when simply delivering a message, he hovered, eyeing the envelope in her hand with interest. It was probably a good thing her brother was a lawyer rather than a poker player, because his ability to hide his intentions and desires wasn't particularly strong. In this case, it was clear that he wanted to know what was going on with her, unfortunately, as her recent mood had to do with Bobby Ewing, she didn't particularly want to share with him at the moment. Cliff being Cliff would probably react exactly as she originally had when Bobby had revealed his identity, and Cliff being Cliff would probably use his debating, dissecting, and reasoning skills to hinder her potential with Bobby rather than help it. She loved her brother and she understood him more than most people did, but at present, she didn't want to have to deal with him knowing the truth about her and Bobby, especially since she herself barely even understood it.

"Thanks Cliff…" repeating the same thing, she gave him a look that left him with no doubt of her intention regarding the envelope in her hand. It was most likely from Bobby seeing as she'd seen him just a few hours prior and she wasn't really at a place in a friendship/relationship with any other man where she would be in a position to receive gifts, plus, it was Sunday and only someone as unaware of money as Bobby would actually pay for Sunday delivery. "Ok, ok, I'm going", watching Cliff as he held his arms up as if surrendering before walking out of the room, she found herself smiling, not only because her brother's dramatic actions were amusing, but because she was excited to finally be alone and able to open the envelope. She barely knew Bobby Ewing, yet she was strongly attracted to him, dancing with him and being in close proximity to him the previous evening had only confirmed that for her. Conversation between them had been stilted or non-existent, especially when he failed to stop his brother JR from talking to her with such a negative attitude, so they weren't exactly perfect for each other, but still, attraction didn't always make sense.

Listening to Sue Ellen's argument, she had agreed to let go of the Barnes/Ewing issue for the moment and instead focus on getting to know people, namely Sue Ellen and Bobby, for who they were as people rather than who they were in relation to their surnames. With that in mind, other than the lack of proper conversation the previous evening, there wasn't actually anything stopping her from allowing Bobby to pursue her, and accepting his advances. On their first date they had had a good rapport, at least until Bobby had naively asked her about her college experience and she'd reacted in a way that in hindsight now seemed a bit over the top. To give him another chance if he asked for one no longer seemed completely unreasonable; there was something between them worth exploring if he was still willing to explore it.

Turning the envelope over in her hands a few times as Cliff left her alone again, she realised that she was not only excited to open it, but a bit nervous too. She was only assuming it was from Bobby and that it was something positive, there was a real possibility though that with the way she had treated him it was a note telling her to have a nice life, or something worse. Sue Ellen seemed lonelier and more willing to try to find common ground with her in order to make things work, Bobby on the other hand, he'd made it clear he liked her, but he had also not exactly taken long to move on to looking for other girls after their date. Bobby was attractive, generous, fun, and confident, she doubted that he had been planning to return home alone before they had met accidentally the previous evening, and truthfully, she couldn't really blame him, she hadn't exactly made any effort to keep in touch with him, and she definitely hadn't made any commitment to him. If Bobby wasn't the one who had sent her the envelope, she would be disappointed because she had already decided she wanted it to be from him, but she would understand; they didn't currently have any definable relationship and that wasn't because he hadn't tried with her.

Examining the outside of the envelope a few more times, thinking about what news it may or may not contain, and who it may or may not be from, she finally decided to just get on with the business of opening it. Sliding her finger under the edge of the envelope, because she didn't have a letter opener in her bedroom, she carefully tore the paper flap open and with two fingers pulled the contents out, two pieces of cardboard and folded paper note. 'Pamela, it was nice seeing you last night. I think we started off on the wrong foot before that though. I really try not to be a rich jerk, especially not a rich jerk named Ewing. I can't change my family, but I can try to change your impression of me, starting with the impression that I'm an elitist and I'm out of touch with reality. If you'll let me, I'd like to show you that I am more than Bobby Ewing, Jock Ewing's son'. Reading the note a couple of times over, she smiled to herself, he was either intuitive or she'd actually told him she thought he was a rich jerk at times. She couldn't remember exactly what she'd said, but it had probably given that impression, especially her response to his remarks about her going to college, as if it were just that easy, and her comments regarding his family's wealth being built at her father's expense. What she had or hadn't said didn't really matter, she was more surprised and pleased that he wasn't fighting her on what she had said and was instead willing to try to show her a different side of him to prove to her that what she assumed wasn't all true.

Turning her attention to the two tickets he had enclosed with the note, she smiled to herself again; it appeared he was playing it safe this time and she quite enjoyed that. Skating was something she was comfortable with, as was dancing, so dance night at a local skate rink sounded like a nice, pressure-free evening to her. He'd chosen a different location to the one where they'd originally met, probably because he didn't want to be reminded of her date with Frank, that too pleased her, firstly, because she didn't want to be reminded of Frank either, and secondly, because she liked the thought that he'd noticed her even during their very brief meeting. All in all, she was pleased with his effort, he was taking things slowly and trying to be normal rather than showy and she liked that; she appreciated the things money could provide, but she was more interested in knowing who he was as just Bobby first. She wanted to talk to him again, to get to know him, but the pressure of sitting in a restaurant with not much else to focus on seemed a bit much at this stage; considering that, she was thrilled to be invited to join him for an evening of dance and skating, they seemed to have no problem physically communicating.

Noting the phone number at the bottom of the note, along with a request for her to call him, regardless of whether her answer was positive or negative, she walked over to closet, grabbed her coat and purse, and made her way down the hall and out the front door. They had a telephone in their home, but for obvious reasons, the call she was about to make felt like it should take place somewhere a little more private. Walking down the street, she felt her nervous excitement growing; Bobby wanted to take her out again, so she didn't really have anything to be nervous about in regard to his response when she phoned, however, she was still a little unsure about how everything was going to work, even her friendship with Sue Ellen. She hadn't told Cliff or her father anything about her interaction with the Ewing family, and until she had a clear idea of what exactly it meant herself, she wasn't going to.

To be continued…