Temporary (Jim Halpert)

Chapter Five: Anti Valentine's

    Hesitant hands brushed over dials, copying down the same order that was on the slip of paper she had recieved. A ring would begin, and immediately she would end the call before someone else had the chance to pick up on the other line. It was Audrie. Audrie was finding herself actually nervous to call Jim and ask getting together tonight, she sort of wished she could say she was surprised about that fact. She found herself so fidgety because she liked Jim, he was a good friend, but Audrie's track record with good friends isn't very long. A lifestyle of never wanting to stop moving leaves behind a lot of good people who just want to stay still. Audrie's made tons of friends a long the way, whether or not they remained friends was the real question. Audrie found it almost easier to stop trying.

As Audrie began to huff and redial in the numbers, her screen changed and said an incoming call from an unknown number. The number on the screen happened to match the one of the slip exactly. Audrie's eyes went wide, and she answered the call with a confused: "Hello?"

"Hey," A happy voice called. "Is this Audrie?"

"U-Uh, oh" Audrie was stumbling over her words. "Yeah, it is. Who's calling?" Audrie tried to play dumb to the fact that she hadn't just tried to call a bunch of times with fail.

"Oh, sorry." The man's voice laughed. "It's Jim. I got your number from Michael actually."

"You did?" Audrie giggled into the phone, Jim smiled at the sound. "Michael had no problem with breaking our confidentiality policy to worker's private lives?"

"Audrie, if we're being real here, I'm not sure Michael can spell confidentiality."

"Fair enough, Halpert."

"So, I was actually calling to ask if you'd rather do drinks at my place tonight? My roommate broke up with his girlfriend recently, and he's looking to be a part of anti-valentine's day."

"Okay, yeah, I'm still down, Halpert." Audrie smiled and slightly bit at her lip. "I have no idea where you live at though, and quite frankly, don't know where much is around here."

Jim chuckled through the phone before explaining he'll give her directions whenever she decides to head out. So, he did. As Audrie loaded into her car and was making her way toward his house, Jim stayed on the phone and gave her directions the best he could. Audrie was sure if he told her the directions out flat she could've figured it out pretty quickly, but Jim trying to explain where to go after she described where was just happened to be far too funny to not keep this going. In all truth though, Audrie did take a stop at the store before calling Jim up. She picked up a pack of beer, despite not being too big into drinking, and picked herself up a little case of soda before hitting the road.
With a couple knocks, Jim answered the door with a smile and Audrie lifted her hands up to show off the drinks. Jim thanked her, and let her inside. His roommate came walking down the stairs the second Audrie was let in, he looked excited and was straightening a tie on his chest.

"How do I look?" He asked, hopeful eyes and worried twitch.

"I mean, you look great, but I'm a little confused." Jim stated, crossing his arms. "What happened to anti-valentine's day?"

"Elizabeth. She happened." He exclaimed, rolling up his sleeves. "We're back together, and we've got a date tonight. Wish me luck."

Jim's room mate rushed out the door without an introduction or a goodbye. This left Audrie a little confused, and Jim in almost awe at how his room mate just bailed like that. He wanted to be surprised, but him and Elizabeth had been together for awhile, so this was probably a good thing. At least that's what Jim told himself.