Pining for Paris/Jim Halpert

Chapter 18: Beach Day

A week or so passed, and I was starting to settle into August. For the first time in months, I started to finally feel like myself again. I was happier, really, so much happier. I was having better, hotter sex with Nick, and he and I were closer than ever. At school, I actually begun my dissertation, which was going really well. I was ace-ing my classes and getting all of my work done early, and I still had time to date Nick and spend lots of time with him. I was killing it at work too; Dwight was my ultimate sales rival and he hated it, but I think he also loved the challenge. I went on a lot of sales calls with Dwight actually, which almost always went really well. He and I meshed really well as a team. I wasn't completely healed or anything; seeing Jim with Karen hurt, it really did. I was still angry at him, you know, I mean he cheated on me. Just because I was happy didn't mean that I was over it. But I was moving on, and I felt good.

And, even better, Jim and I started talking again. At the beginning, I was making sale after sale, and he would just give me this really goofy, congratulatory smile which made me blush. This evolved into a verbal "Nice, Vance!", which I started to look forward to, like a lovesick idiot. We started verbally greeting each other too. He would ask me about school, and sometimes about how things are with Nick. I was never really sure how to answer those questions about Nick; I didn't want to lie, but I also didn't want to tell him the truth. So, I told him, Things are good. We went out last night to [insert restaurant]. You been there?

No, I haven't.

Oh you should go, it was awesome.

And then he would awkwardly say, Sure, I'll take Karen sometime. As if he was trying to remind me that he was with her. So, it wasn't amazing, but at least he wasn't ignoring me anymore. After I started pulling my life back together, he told me, "It's nice to have you back."

And it was so weird that he said that, as if I had been gone somehow. I wasn't even the one who left; that was him.

On Beach Day, I was so excited. It had been so long since I'd been to the beach, since I'd laid in the sun or felt the ocean. I missed it.

On the morning of, I packed my sunscreen, sunglasses, and my book. At work, Michael made a couple useless announcements in the morning and we finally left to the bus outside. When boarding, I felt really weird, because I didn't really know who to sit next to. I felt like I was 8 years old again on the school bus without any friends. Then, I notices Pam was sitting alone, and when I asked if I could sit there, she smiled and said yes.

Speaking of Pam, our relationship was much better too. We started talking again, and really talking. I told her briefly about my breakup with Jim when she asked, but we didn't talk extensively about it. We talked a lot about work and the drama going on in the office, which was always interesting. She and I talked a lot about Nick, which was cool too. It was nice to have her as a friend again.

For some reason, Michael was making Pam take diligent notes on Beach Day, which was really stupid, but she went along with it. I helped her make a table that would allow her the space to do it, but she was more interested in drawing in her notebook. During the ride, I read my book and tried not to look at Jim and Karen, who were holding hands.

When we got there, it was hotter than I expected, and it wasn't really a typical beach, just near a lake. It was okay though, I was still happy with it, and Pam helped me put sunscreen on. At the beginning, Michael chose Jim, Stanley, Dwight, and myself as team leaders, which I thought was kind of weird because we were all salespeople. I chose Pam, Meredith, Oscar, and Phyllis, which made for an interesting egg race. Essentially, we lost, but it was okay. It was nice to be in the sunshine.

Later, I helped Pam grill hot dogs, and we eventually all sat down for the contest. It was stupid, and everyone knew it, so people complained. Eventually, Michael burst, "Whoever wins today gets my job." And then he explained why he put the teams togethers and that he was interviewing for a job at corporate. I was shocked, but mostly for the reason that Michael was considering me to replace him. He was considering me as manager! I mean, that felt amazing. It felt like a win, even though I knew I probably wasn't going to get it.