INTERIM LOVER, ryan howard.

025 ⋮ sobriety

ㅤㅤㅤIt wasn't as warm as she would've liked for a day at the beach. Scratch that. It was way too cold to be on the beach, Pam realised as the enormous moon climbed the night sky. She'd snuck away from the group as Michael had begun his spiel about bravery or stamina or something—not that it mattered to her, she had no intention of replacing Michael, nor did she care which of her delusional colleagues would be her next boss.

Her face was thawing in the warmth of the burning coals. Now more than ever, Pam was tempted to do it, not just fuelled by the desire to go against Michael's orders, but to remind herself of her strength.

"I'm gonna do this," she told herself again, hoping her doubts would just stop. She needed to be more sure of herself. She was going to do this because she knew she could.

Rachel had been restlessly sitting and listening to Michael's rant on the importance of comedy in his job. She had to resist her constant temptation to butt in and confront him that it was his much-loved humour that caused such resent against him in the office. But she just kept listening, grabbing handfuls of sand and letting the grains slip through her fingers.

"Michael, I don't think I should be considered as your replacement," Jim said, coming to a stand.

"You are being too modest," Michael replied cautiously, intrigued by this new joke format.

"On Thursday I'm going to interview with David for the open position in New York."

Rachel whipped her head up so quickly she almost broke her neck. Since the day she had met Jim two years ago, he was nothing more than a man just trying to get by doing the bare minimum in his job. To hear that Jim Halpert was now trying to become the Vice President of the company was like reading Creed's thoughts; completely unintelligible.

"That is not funny. Sixty points from team Voldemort for false pretenses." It wasn't like she cared about the stupid competition anyways, just as with every other scheme Michael had, his 'funtivities' were making people irritable. Stanley had already escorted himself to the bus, no doubt having a better time with his crosswords.

Out of the corner of her eye, Rachel caught a glimpse of a silhouette scampering across the burning coals. She let out a gasp as she realised it was Pam, earning a hard look from Dwight, who was halfway through telling a joke.

Pam was exhilarated. She ran over to the group, interrupting their silence. "I wanna say something. I've been trying to be more honest lately and I just need to say a few things. I did the coal walk! Michael, you couldn't even do that. Maybe I should be your boss?"

The group chuckled softly, which was more than the reception they gave Dwight. Rachel watched with awe as her best friend spoke. It was about time people started listening to the girl.

"Why didn't any of you come to my art show?" she continued, a hint of sadness in her tone. She looked around the circle, and most people avoided her gaze in shame. "It really sucked. Sometimes, some of you act like I don't even exist."

Surprisingly, with every word she uttered, Pam felt more powerful, and the pain that had been residing in her heart for years now was beginning to subdue. The feeling of freedom was so immense that she couldn't stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth. She turned to her left, singling Jim out.

"I called off my wedding because of you, now we aren't even friends. You were one of my best friends before you left for Stamford, and I miss you. I shouldn't have been with Roy. I mean, there were a lot of reasons to call off my wedding. But the truth is, I didn't care for any of that until I met you."

Rachel tried her hardest to suppress her excitement. She would otherwise be squealing, or standing over Jim ordering him to love Pam back. Because it was so blatant to her that they were meant to be, just as Shakespeare had placed Romeo and Juliet on the wrong sides of the war.