Pining for Paris/Jim Halpert

Chapter 6: Christmas Party

Turns out, having a job makes time go by a lot faster. Two and a half months passed since I'd started working at Dunder Mifflin, and they were an amazing two and a half months. At first, I was pretty crap at sales. I was losing clients left and right, it was terrible, but Jim was right there with me. He gave me tips and tricks for keeping clients and really showed me how to make our paper super appealing, which I think was the hardest part of my job. At the beginning, he and I made a deal: I would help him prank Dwight every once in a while and he would help me with my sales.

So all of his help actually worked: I started doing really well in sales, getting a bunch of different clients, supplying them with paper. I was good at administrative work, so once I combined those skills with sales, I was killing it. Everything at school was going well too — I picked a dissertation topic, which was Shakespeare's effect on English literature and where we would be as a society without his work. My advisor was all over it, and I was anxious to start.

Not to mention, I paid my rent 8 days before eviction, as soon as I got my first paycheck. My super was not at all happy with me, but he seemed to understand that I was having problems. He told me not to do it again, and I smiled and told him I wouldn't. Because of the eviction nonsense, I didn't have lunch at work for a little while. Instead, during my break, I would continue working or go out for a walk. Jim noticed somehow that I didn't have any lunch for a few weeks, so he started packing two ham and cheese sandwiches and leaving one on my desk at the start of his lunch break. When I asked about it, he furrowed his brows and told me he didn't know what I was talking about. I wanted to protest more, but I was starving; I was eating one meal a day on my budget, and so I didn't complain and I ate the sandwich. Eventually, I was able to bring myself lunch, and I bought these little chocolates, which I would put on Jim's desk when he went to the bathroom under I paid off my sandwich debt. He would smile, laugh a little, and eat the chocolate delightfully, knowing it was from me.

Speaking of Jim, I think getting over Pam took a little longer than he thought. Two and a half months passed by since our talk in the elevator, and he still hadn't given me the green light. I mean, he flirted with me from time to time, complimented my looks or work ethic, whatever. But I knew that when he was ready, I would be ready. He knew it too.

On the first snow of the year, Michael announced our Christmas party date, which came much faster than I expected. On the Friday of our party, I wore a burgundy sweater to work in effort to participate in the festivities, even though it wasn't really my thing. At work, things were pretty normal, despite Michael playing Christmas music very loudly in his office with the blinds folded up. While he was weird and really good at wasting time, I thought he was a pretty good boss. He really cared about paper.

"Thank you! We look forward to doing business with you. Happy holidays!" I finished up, putting down my phone and noting my sale on my computer.

"Another sale, Vance?"

"Yep! Better get calling if you want a higher paycheck than me."

"Or," he said, "you could help me prank Dwight."

I smiled, nodding. "What's the damage?"

"Well, I have this wasabi candy cane that I really want to marinate in his coffee, but I need you to distract him in the kitchen."

"Sounds perfect. Here he comes." I cleared my throat as Dwight sat back down with a steaming cup of coffee.

"Hey Dwight."

"What?"

"I forgot where the bathroom is, do you think you could show me?"

He rolled his eyes. "You women, terrible memories. It's your imbalance of testosterone."