INTERIM LOVER, ryan howard.

009 ⋮ kapoor and kadesperate, he watches

ㅤㅤㅤJim caught himself staring at reception again. In place of the beautiful girl answering calls was an annoyed Temp. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," Jim answered coolly, though he was embarrassed. Pam was on holiday and would be back the next day, he assured himself. Soon enough, she'd be sitting at her desk, answering calls with her usual cheer. Soon enough, she'd be married too. June, this summer, to be exact.

—

RYAN
Jim's been looking at me kind of a lot all week. I would be creeped out by it, but it's nothing compared to the way Michael looks at me.

—

"What?"

"Nothing. Nothing," Jim mumbled, getting back to his work.

Ryan let his eyes trail to the manager's office, now mere metres before him, only to catch Michael staring at him through the blinds with no intention of stopping. He shuddered. Rachel bit the end of her pen to keep herself from laughing, but Ryan could tell by the way her shoulders were shaking that she found this amusing. Jim threw a pen at the girl.

She couldn't wait for Pam to come back. Every day, she kept a sticky note of the events in the office. Pam had missed some of the finest pranks against Dwight. She was most proud of his buttonless shirt and broken belt combination, which resulted in Dwight having to work in his underpants all day. In the end, she was the one who had to suffer.

She picked up a few files and floated over to reception. "Oh, fair receptionist, would you be so kind—"

Ryan snatched the faxes out of her hand and wheeled himself over to the machine and back. "So."

"So."

"What's up?"

"You asked me that an hour ago," she giggled.

"Well, stuff can happen in an hour."

Rachel hopped around to the other side of reception. "Well, you can definitely see me from here, so you should know what's up."

"I can only see the back of your head," Ryan replied, omitting his desire to tell her that he really just wanted to see her face. If it had been Rachel staring from Jim's seat, or staring from Michael's office, then he would have no complaints.

"Well, Hayden called."

"I know. I forwarded the call to you." He tried to come off as cool, but in truth, he wished Hayden would just call her cell. Frankly, it was patronising. "I also know that you got up four times in the past hour."

"Kelly," she exhaled. Kelly was not a great substitute for Pam, if anything, she was the polar opposite. She frequented the Annex to let the girl run her mouth, but there seemed no end to her conversations. Rachel sympathised greatly for Toby. "You should try talking to her."

Ryan laughed incredulously, reaching back for her fax. "Ok, why?"

She shrugged. "You're both into things that are trending today."

"Who isn't?"

"Just talk to her, would you?"

Kelly Kapoor was a woman of great determination, Ryan was aware. She saw what she wanted and she saw nothing else. No doubt, even if he didn't want her, she would get him in the end.

—