i'm back! thanks to everyone who's reading this and has stuck with this fic over the hiatus - you're the best! also i'm sorry this wasn't a longer chapter; i'm sort of just getting back into the swing of writing fic as for NaNo i wrote original. so please forgive me if any of this seems off or ooc or anything! :)
title taken from: "All We Do" by Oh Wonder
Thanksgiving break had certainly been very interesting.
(Or, at least, about as interesting as Thanksgiving break had ever been.)
Between the combination of turkey, family members he had forgotten he ever had, and the endless questioning about his college degree, Jim had found hardly any time to contact any of his friends, even the ones who still lived in their hometown.
As a result of this, he was actually pretty excited to get back to school after the 5-day break.
He arrived rather late in the afternoon (he had the luxury of not having any classes until 3pm, and so could take his time settling back into things) and almost immediately ran into Ryan, who seemed as though he was trying to avoid someone.
Ryan jerked his head up in acknowledgement as they passed each other, and Jim guessed he didn't really want to catch up right now, so he just continued on his way to the Dunder-Mifflin block.
The elevator ride took a way longer time than he remembered, but in a matter of minutes, he was standing in front of his door.
There didn't seem to be any nosy coming from the room, so he guessed that (thankfully) Dwight wasn't there yet, and pushed open the door one-handed.
The room looked exactly the same as it had when he had left - beds made neatly, wardrobe doors shut perfectly, and the stack of unneeded textbooks sat primly on his desk. Dwight's side of the room was so unnervingly clean that it looked almost as though no one had ever lived there at all, and for one wild moment he was filled with hope that maybe, just maybe, his awful roommate transferred schools.
However, he was incorrect - within mere moments of first stepping into the room and setting down his bags, the door was flung open to reveal a very angry-looking Dwight Schrute.
Dwight rushed into the room with no preamble, dumping his bags and immediately beginning to unpack. He looked pretty normal… Well, not that anything could ever truly be considered normal in the case of Dwight Schrute, but nevertheless… Except for his hands.
"Did someone catch you in the act?" Jim asked, perching, for the first time in almost a week, atop his bed.
"What?" Dwight turned his head.
Jim gestured to his roommate's hands. They were stained slightly red.
Dwight looked at his own hands and groaned. "Beet juice." He explained. "Takes forever to get out."
"Right." He had learned not to question anything Dwight ever claimed. "By the way, do you know what time History class starts today?"
"4:25." Dwight responded promptly.
"Cool. Thanks." He guessed that class was going to be the first time he saw Pam again after the break, and for once in his life, he was actually excited to go to class.
Although he was pretty much totally unpacked within the next half hour, Jim decided to wait out the remaining 15 minutes until class started in his room instead of going to find his friends.
Dwight left after just a couple of minutes after a short blonde girl appeared in the open doorway, looking flustered and not saying much. Dwight followed her down the hall, and since that point, hadn't came back to the room, so Jim had just closed the door and turned up his music.
He made a mental list of all the things he had to mention to her - the way that his intensely Catholic grandmother lectured him for an entire hour on "college promiscuity"; how his brother got so drunk he forgot which room was his; the complete and utter lack of studying he did over the break.
Because of course they had a little contact - not as much as he would have liked, mind you - over the break, but really, how was he expected to fit in everything he wanted to tell her within a series of mere texts?
The time had finally come for class to start -
Well, not exactly; there was still a few minutes until the official beginning of the class, but he had to get there early to save their seats, right?
There were a few people in the room already, though unfortunately, Oscar was the only one he recognised. Jim sent him a little wave, and Oscar nodded politely back.
His leg bounced uncontrollably under the table, which he guessed was a good indication of his nervousness for the class. Pam hadn't arrived yet, and it was only a couple of minutes until the bell… She was always early to class. It was kind of her thing.
The others began to filter in, with a few new faces traipsing along, too. It seemed as though there were lots of new people going into the class after the holidays.
In fact, after just a few moments the class was practically full, but there was still no sign of Pam. Granted, there was still one minute until the class was set to begin, and Mr. Scott still wasn't even there yet, but it still worried him.
Mr. Scott wandered into the class, dragging his feet over-dramatically, and Jim had pretty much given up hope. Maybe Pam wasn't returning to class, maybe she had finally run away with Roy.
(Not that he had a problem with Roy! Pam could date whoever she wanted to, and Roy seemed really great… Sort of.)
Just at that moment, the door was joltingly pushed open, as if the person entering had trouble with the weight of the door.
"Sorry I'm late," Pam puffed, adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder.
(It was a new one, Jim noticed, that she presumably had gotten over the break - a satchel. It was different.)
He shot her a grin across the room (not that he could really help it) which she hesitantly returned.
As Mr Scott didn't seem to care whatsoever whether Pam was late to class or not, he simply dismissed her with a floppy wave of his hand and allowed her to rush up the stairs and squeeze into their row.
"Hey," Jim greeted her, and he couldn't help but wish she had gotten there earlier, because in this moment all he wanted to do was hug her.
"Hi," she murmured back, lugging her satchel onto the desk and pulling out her laptop and other class materials. She took her seat and tugged at her hair, not really looking at anything. She was probably the most distracted that Jim had ever seen her.
He waited a moment for her to get settled properly before speaking again. After shooting a glance to the front of the class, where Mr. Scott was still setting up, he said without looking at her: "It's great to see you again."
"You too." Pam responded after a second, her voice soft. She sounded the exact same way he remembered, all soft and whisper-y and timid. "Sorry, I didn't stay in contact much over the break, just-"
"No, it's fine." Jim cut in. "It was Thanksgiving, I'm sure we were both interested in catching up with our families back home and everything, it's really no big deal."
"Yeah," Pam agreed, though there was something off. When Jim turned, only briefly, to see what was up, she was worrying her lip with her teeth.
He immediately focused his attention back to the front of the class.
The class was finally over, after it had went on for what seemed like forever. As per usual, Jim learned approximately nothing, other than Mr. Scott's complete and utter incompetence when it came to magic tricks, which he had forced them all to watch.
Pam took a little longer to pack up her stuff, but waved away his offers to help, so Jim decided to wait outside the classroom for her instead.
Class ended 7 minutes ago. Pam was just now leaving.
"Sorry I took so long." She shot him an apologetic smile. "I guess I'm still trying to adjust to being… Y'know, back here."
"No, it's fine." He responded without thinking.
They fell into step together, though Pam's strides seemed to be quicker than his.
"So, how was your break?" Jim asked, because he knew that if he didn't keep the conversation going, they would just run out of things to talk about, and he really didn't want that to happen right now.
Pam hummed to herself, thinking. "It was pretty good, I suppose. It was nice to be back home again. I think… I think I missed home more than I was allowing myself to admit."
Her message was cryptic, and this wasn't like her. (Maybe when they first met, before countless History classes and birthday parties and rooftop picnics, but not now. Not recent.)
"Yeah, I get what you mean." He replied cautiously, even though it was technically a lie. "I mean, Thanksgiving is always fun for me. The family comes round, we all get to see each other… Plus, my parents are great cooks."
"Shame they didn't pass that on to you." Pam quipped, before finally, finally cracking a genuine smile.
When they laughed together, it felt just like old times.
(But there was still something just under the surface.
And it couldn't remain for much longer.)