The paper salesman

The new boyfriend

I walked into the office and put my stuff down on my desk.

"Hey, little miss rib contest." Jim smiled.

"Urgh, god, shut up, I shouldn't have eaten all of those ribs last night." I chuckled as I leant against Jim's desk and held my stomach.

"Oh, come on, you ate, like, three, I had seventeen!" He laughed.

"I know, because we ordered the twenty-rib challenge, and I only had three ribs." I mocked, making Jim smirk. Suddenly, his smile dipped slightly and his eyebrows furrowed as he started sniffing. My eyebrows furrowed.

"You okay there, Jimmy boy?" I chuckled.

"Yeah, I just, I can smell this lovely smell, but it's a new smell." He spoke, still sniffing.

"I can't figure out where it's coming from." He mumbled as he moved his chair around a little, still sniffing. I chuckled as he moved closer to me before sniffing. He looked at me.

"Do you mind?" he asked.

"I don't know what you're planning to do." I spoke slowly. He gulped as he slowly stood up so that he was the same height as me before leaning in slightly. My eyes widened slightly as he sniffed again, near to my neck. His smile returned as he sat down again.

"You get new perfume?" he asked, resting his fingers against his chin.

"I did." I smiled, nodding. He returned it before looking at my lips.

"Is that a new lip-gloss too?" he chuckled. My smile widened.

"Yes, Jim Halpert, it is. How come you know so much about my lip-gloss and my perfume, stalker?" I laughed, making him return it.

"Dude, you leave your usual lip-gloss on Pam's desk all the time and since I'm there a lot, I basically know that colour off by heart. In terms of your perfume, I don't know, you smell good, so I know the smell." He shrugged, spinning his chair slightly. I smiled slightly and looked down.

"So, tell me, why the new lip-gloss and new perfume?" he asked. I smirked and bit my lip.

"I can't just buy myself new perfume and new lip-gloss? Maybe I wanted to get someone's attention." I smirked. Jim returned it.

"Oh yeah? I think that you've got it." He nodded, chuckling and gently grazing two fingertips over his bottom lip. I smirked and looked down as I felt butterflies in my stomach.

"Oh, by the way, I'm so sorry about last night." He sighed. I looked at him.

"What do you mean?" I chuckled nervously. He smiled at me.

"I mean Seth. He was such an ass last night." He chuckled and shook his head. My smile dipped slightly and I looked down.

"I thought that he was okay, and we got on well." I nodded. Jim looked at me and raised his eyebrows.

"Y/N, I'm not saying that you're wrong, but almost every comment that he made to you or Pam was about your weight and every comment that he made to me was about my supposed immaturity and how apparently I won't commit to Pam, which the last time I checked, is the other way round." He scoffed. I sighed and looked at him. Jim's smile dipped as he realised.

"Oh...no, Y/N, oh my god, please tell me that you're not going out with him again." He groaned, holding his hands to his head.

"Jim, we seemed to get on well, and he asked if I'd want to go out again tonight. And I said yes." I gulped. Jim groaned again and rubbed his hands over his face.

"Why did you think that I had a new perfume and lip-gloss?" I sighed.

"I don't know, Pam treats herself to stuff like that all the time, I assumed that you'd done the same." He whined.

"Jim, why are you being like this?" I scoffed. He sighed and scratched the back of his head before throwing his hand down and looking at me.

"I just, he's a massive ass who isn't good enough for you and I don't want to see you hurt." He admitted.

"Jim, I'm a grown-ass woman, I can take care of myself." I scoffed.

"Well clearly not if you think that giving that jackass a chance is a good idea." He nodded. I choked as he said that. His face softened.

"God, Y/N, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that." He sighed. I shrugged and stood from the desk before heading towards the kitchen.

"Y/N." he spoke, taking my hand as I passed.

"Don't." I scoffed, ripping my hand out of his as I walked away, making him sigh.

Jim's P.O.V

Jim sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before shaking his head and looking into the camera.

"I screwed up. Badly. I don't know how to fix it-." His eyes widened slightly.

"Oh my god. Never mind, I know exactly how to fix it." He smiled as he started to stand up.

"I'm so sorry, I'm going to cut this short, I'll, um, do another interview later to make up for this if you want." He nodded as he started to take his microphone pack off.

"No, it's okay, go make up with Y/N." the producer spoke.

"Awesome, thanks, guys." Jim smiled, putting the pack on the table before rushing out of the conference room.

Y/N's P.O.V

I sighed as I walked back into the office, holding my coffee in my hands. I sat down and looked down at my work.

"Hey, Y/N, can I show you something in the breakroom?" Andy asked.

"Urgh, I just sat down." I groaned.

"Come on, you're going to love this." He smiled.

"Okay." I sighed as I stood up and followed Andy to the breakroom. I walked in and a smile spread across my lips as Jim sat at one of the tables with a plate of ribs in front of him.

"What's this?" I asked, wandering in.

"This is an apology for a couple things. One, for hogging almost all of the ribs last night." He chuckled, making me smile as I sat down.

"And second, for being such an ass about your date." He nodded. I sighed and returned it.

"You're my best friend, and you support my relationship, so I should do the same for you." He spoke. I looked at him.

"You were an ass. But like you said, I'm your best friend, so I forgive you." I smiled. He returned it and nodded.

"Now, are you willing to face me again on the twenty-rib challenge?" he smirked.

"Bring it, Halpert." I smiled, making him laugh as we started to eat.