Yeah, I finally updated! You guys are gonna be totally satisfied with this one, because the universe was completely working for Jim and Pam. I'm not sure how well it's written, but that's for you guys to decide. By the way, your reviews are what keep me going. If you want a conclusion and/or epilogue, (I have an awesome one planned) then keep 'em coming!

Disclaimer: I own nothing...

Karen Filipelli was the definition of cool, almost.

She was the kind of girl that Pam would have only dreamed of being. No wonder Jim was so much more into Karen.

Her hair was perfect, nicely styled and sophisticated. Her wardrobe was different than the clothes you usually find in Scranton, making everyone even more jealous. Her nails were flawlessly manicured and makeup meticulously applied.

Of course, she wasn't quite awesome. Pam cringed at the fact that Karen thought (knew?) That she was better than everyone that Jim had grown up with, and even had learn to love like his own screwed up little family. Karen just didn't understand. Sure, she was way smarter and more respectable than Roy was, but she still thought that she was better than a lot of people, like Roy did as captain of the football team. It made Pam sick to see how she acted towards Kevin and Meredith. They were nice and just as important to the group of friends as anyone else.

So, on a warm day in August, Pam lost it. Well, almost. It was more of a startling declaration. The kids had been hanging out all week, since it was only so long until they all left for college. Kevin, Oscar, and Angela were all heading towards the accounting type of position, Michael was going to work for a paper company in Scranton. Pam was heading for Pratt, and since Dwight was staying in Scranton, he had decided to follow Michael to Dunder-Mifflin. It was basically a failing paper company. Nobody cared about it at the school's job fair and they didn't supply the high-school's paper. Rumor has it that one of the salesmen is dating a girl in the high-school. Weird.

Jim had changed his mind. Him and Karen were leaving for a different place in Connecticut where they would become salespeople while moving up in the company that was located there.

Pam hated that. She knew that he would have rather gone back to New York to pursue his dream of teaching guitar lessons. It was heartbreaking to see him leave for a company he would hate because Karen had convinced him that it was more "stable" than what he had originally had in mind. Now he knew what it was like for her putting up with Roy and her parents all those years. She's been told forever that art was an impractical thing to do for the rest of her life, but she still was out there, chasing her dreams. He's thought she was crazy to consider anything else, and here he was, giving up on everything.

When the group of kids got together at the beach for one of their last days together, Pam had finally told everyone what was on her mind. And she did it with a pounding headache.

"Hey, everyone. I just- I need to say something. You guys haven't respected me. At all, not through high-school and- I'm sick of it. Jim, I left Roy for you. He had been looking for apartments, we were gonna move in together, I was with him for three years. I know, he was a mistake. And you're with Karen now and- God, whatever. That's okay. I guess I just mean that I miss you. We're not even friends, and you always told me that I shouldn't listen to Roy and my parents. You said that I should apply to Pratt. Now you just... well, you let Karen talk you out of your dream, and we both know what you really want and jeez, I have a major headache. I think I'm dehydrated."

Everyone sat in silence, listening to the sound of her feet hitting the ground while she ran for the coolers to get a bottled water. Jim shook his head when Michael sent him an exaggerated wink.

"Pathetic," Dwight muttered, apparently fully recovered after the death of his aunt and uncle.

XXXX

He couldn't believe she had said all of that. He pondered it, everything, while Karen babbled on in his ear. He couldn't hear her, though. He was only listening to his whirring thoughts.

Maybe he was being hypocritical. He had told Pam for years that Roy and her parents were wrong. He'd convinced her to apply to Pratt, he'd encouraged her and now he was going to just decide suddenly that his dream was unstable and impractical? Hell, he'd been telling Pam that those were stupid reasons to quit on something and here he was, ruining what he had partially come to New York for. Karen was still talking, telling him that Pam was wrong, she was probably a little wasted, who knew, blah blah blah.

He just didn't care anymore, though. He honestly wasn't sure what in the hell he was going to do, and just when he had thought that he had a stable future ahead of him, Pam had to say something.

He'd done the same thing. It wasn't any different. Only now, he realized that on graduation night, he hadn't misinterpreted anything, and she wasn't doing that now.

Maybe, though, this was all wrong. Maybe she was just being a little over-dramatic, maybe going to Connecticut was the right decision, maybe maybe maybe. Who knew anymore?

XXXX

She gulped her water, trying to calm the light-headed-ness that was making her head swim. She was dehydrated, that was for sure. She was also happy. It took her years to just say it, but who really cared? Well, he probably did. Karen was ready to rip her head off, that was for sure. Why did things have to get so complicated?

XXXX

Three days later, he had made his decision. Karen found another company, in New York, that was looking for young interns. She'd thought that if she found a company closer to Scranton, then maybe he wouldn't return to his old dream of guitar lessons. It had worked. He was carefully sorting through old memories, setting little pictures in the cardboard box in front of him. God, how come he had so many pictures of Pam?

Him and Pam at eight years old, standing in front of a sand castle. Him and Pam eating popcicles, with purple surrounding their mouths. Him and Pam, while she proudly showed off the awesome painting she'd made last year. Pam, giving the camera a "rock on" sign after he'd made the winning shot in junior year, getting their basketball team to the state finals. He wanted to return to that moment, when he carefully arched his arm, watched the orange ball swoosh through the net. He remembers, he could hear her cheer out of everyone else's. When the team mobbed him, surrounding him with sweaty players, he could still see her, jumping up and down, cheering. God, those were the days.

Then he found the new one, he'd never seen it before.

It was Pam, of course. She was smiling, obviously taking the picture herself. She was wearing that light-pink hoodie that made her hair and eyes stand out, the radiant smile making him grin. The little date on the back showed that it had only been taken yesterday. Underneath that was some writing.

Don't forget me when you're famous!

Love, Pam

It was then he knew. He knew that he couldn't leave with Karen, not when he knew that it wasn't over, not by a long shot. He still had a chance.

He'd sat there, tapping his foot nervously. He had to tell Karen something when she got back with the sandwiches.

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