Oh, naive fanfic readers. Did you really think that complications wouldn't arise? (Evil laugh) Well, you thought wrong!

OK, as you guys know, Jim and Pam didn't have an easy romance at first, so things aren't perfect just yet. But if you're patient and always always always review, then maybe they will end up happily ever after. Maybe not. And to answer someone's little question or whatever, it was mentioned in the beginning of chapter three that Emma Emiliana was around 80 years old. Sorry for not making that clear enough.

I had this idea, but it was still hard to write. I know it isn't the best, probably my worst chapter. I know it isn't that good, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. Really, don't get too excited. It isn't a good chapter. At all.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, some of the quotes, the show, or anything. You know that.

"Come on, Roy. Just stay a little longer. Please?"

"Aw, Pammy, you can stay. But Kenny said that there was a huge party that Katy was throwing and everyone knows you can't have booze at Michael's house!"

"Katy? You mean that slutty cheerleader?"

"Come on, Pam. I'm gonna go. Just hang with Halpert."

"Ok. Fine. I'll stay here alone, without my date because you want to get drunk." Pam walked away in disgust, tears threatening to spill when she heard Roy's truck pull away, because he obviously didn't really care about her feelings, graduation party or not. She could feel her cheeks burning when she spotted Jim coming from the corner of her eye.

Michael was throwing a graduation party, which was supposed to go late into the night and get really crazy, but his mom made him wear a suit and nobody could have liquor. The theme was casino night, and he was trying to tell everyone that he wasn't throwing the party, "lady fortune" was. Nobody really cared. Angela thought that gambling would send them to hell, Dwight had helped them win at Craps without knowing it, and Stanley wanted more pretzels. Some of the misfits had come, though, because there wasn't much else going on. Meredith had already left for booze at Katy's house.

Pam had beat Jim, no, killed Jim in a game not too long ago, taking all of his chips and sharing a giggle with him too. As usual, he was able to perfectly imitate her expression when she saw her cards.

"Hey, uh, can I talk to you about something?" He was looking serious, but she was desperate to lighten the mood.

"About when you want to give me more of your money?" She had that smile, the one that made him want to thank God and cry at the same time.

"No, I-" She cut him off.

"Did you want to do that now? We can go inside. I'm feelin' kinda good tonight." She was playing it cocky, the type of thing that would usually bring a laugh and sarcastic comment from him. But not tonight.

"I was just, um... I'm in love with you." The words rang true, and he tried to clench out the look of shock she was giving him, unregistered surprise.

"What?" She wanted him to take it back, take it all back. Why did he have to do this? So he could make things uncomfortable? Ruin their friendship?

"I'm really sorry it that's weird for you to hear, but I needed you to hear it. Probably not good timing, I know that, I just-"

"What are you doing? What do you expect me to say to that?" She was trying to be angry, she wanted to be. But she couldn't be. Not like this. This was so...what was it, exactly?

"I just needed you to know. Once." the sound of his voice killed her. So true, so pure. He just needed her to know, at least once, so she could be fully aware of the fact that he loved her. Just once.

"Well, I um-I can't." I can't. Those words punctured him, like she had no choice. It's not that she won't, but she can't.

"Yeah." He knows. He knows everything and it hurts him so bad, he knows. But he just needed to try.

Once.

"You have no idea-" She's trying to patch it up, make things better. She'll forget, maybe.

"Don't do that." He knows she's trying to fix this, repair it. But it can't be taped together with laughs anymore. It never could have been. Since he was seven years old, it was a lost cause.

"-what your friendship means to me." Like that will make him forgive his feelings, which brought him to the breaking point tonight. Or his words, which pushed him over the edge in this whole unfair splotch in Jim's life.

"Come on. I don't want to do that. I want to be more than that." He just had to tell her this, once. Let her know because he had already made his decision.

"I can't. I'm really sorry if you misinterpreted things. It's probably my fault." She doesn't want to blame him, but her whole world is crashing around her and she isn't sure if she wants to run or push him away.

"Pam, do you remember when we were in tenth grade? And we made that promise? To go to New York if we both haven't found things that we love more than guitar and art by graduation? Do you remember that?" He is pleading now, just trying to make her remember what they could have done.

Once.

"Jim, don't do that. Don't even bring that up. You know that was a silly tenth grade thing. You brought back an old memory and I was feeling so spontaneous after talking to that Emilie Emanana or whatever-her-name-was and we both said something that we didn't mean." She is lying, trying to force out her old memories. Trying to make them go away.

"I didn't say anything that night that I didn't mean. And I know you didn't either, Pam. I know you still want to pursue art, and I still love guitar. You know that we could leave. You're just too scared-"

"Don't tell me that. Don't, for the last time, stop saying these things. I have plans to move in with Roy, I am staying here in Scranton, do you hear me? Are you listening, Jim? I'm sorry, but you didn't have to let this happen, you know." She doesn't know what this is, this anger. She isn't sure why she's blowing it at Jim, but she is.

"OK, then. I'm sorry I misinterpreted our friendship." And with that, Jim walked away.

XXXX

Everyone knew about it, practically the next day. Everyone knew what Jim had done, they had heard about his mother freaking out and the angry phone calls his dad was making.

Jim's parents woke up in the morning to find some of his clothes, car, and guitar gone. A small note was sitting on the kitchen counter, written in his slanted, pushed together handwriting.

Mom and Dad,

I tried so hard to find out what I could do instead of a career with my guitar, but I couldn't find something else I was passionate about. I left, for New York. I'll come back soon, when the time is right. Don't worry about me.

Pam had heard the news the second she woke up from her fitful sleep. It was a night of tossing and turning, and she spent an hour talking it over with her mom. When her mother had asked her that question-"Do you love him back?", she couldn't say anything but yes. Because as much as Pam didn't want to face it right now, she did.

But Jim was gone and she was with Roy. She didn't even know where Jim was headed.

Pam had the whole summer to decide where she was going to college. She had gotten accepted at a number of places, and one in particular stuck out to her. Jim had been there to talk to her about it. He had always been there.

"I just don't know, Jim. Are you sure that I would get in? What if my parents find out? They'll be so mad! I'm not sure, I'll get caught, my sisters will find out, I know. Should I mail my application?" She was frantic, and it was Jim's idea anyways. She had thought about applying to the Pratt School of Design, but it was him who told her to do it. Him who sat by her while she filled out the application, helped her through the tough questions, pointed out small mistakes that she didn't notice through her shaky handwriting. But now that it was all done, she didn't want to mail it. She knew that if her parents found out she applied to an art school in New York they would be furious.

"It's okay, Pam. Just put it in the mail box. Is this what you want?" He was looking at her, questioning her dream.

"Yeah, it's just-"

"Then mail it, Pam. If this is what you truly want, then they will eventually understand. If they know you're serious." He smiled, gently taking her hand. She pulled away.

"Can you mail it? For me? Just put it in, I don't know if I-"

"You have to be the one to do it, Pam. I'm not applying, you are." She took a deep breath and slid it inside, then blushed when she realized that her fingers were shaking. He laughed. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it Beesly?" She laughed back.

"No, I guess it wasn't."

Pam had been accepted at Pratt. And she knew she she wanted to do.

But she had ruined things with Jim, totally botched them and she just didn't want to face that yet. It was too late for her to realize that she wanted to go with him. And Roy was getting really serious with their relationship. He was looking at little apartments and asking her about her future. Nothing felt right anymore.

XXXX

Jim had taken off not long after Michael's party. He left Pam, driving home. He then pulled out a bunch of his clothes, threw them in a suitcase, grabbed his guitar, scribbled down a note and drove to New York. The city so nice they named it twice.

He couldn't stay in Scranton. He couldn't watch her move in with Roy and he couldn't witness Roy treat her badly either. He couldn't watch his whole life reject him. He couldn't take an office job, and sit at a desk for 10 hours a day. He couldn't imagine his future without her, but he would have to.

"I can't."

And this time, Jim couldn't either.

Tell me what you thought. I know you were hoping that Jim and Pam would run off to New York together, but I'm a fan of angst and struggles. Jim and Pam never had it easy. But reviews help! Please! I'm starting to feel discouraged. Seriously. I'm begging you guys.