INTERIM LOVER, ryan howard.

026 ⋮ more than a job

ㅤㅤㅤKevin Malone had never seen anything nearly as tragic as Jim walking into the office this morning. Jim was bearable at best, but he'd done something overnight to completely ruin himself. Kevin couldn't put a finger on it, but he was betting he was actually talking to Jim's evil twin.

Pam's smile grew immensely as soon as Jim walked through the door. She thought he looked absolutely ravishing this morning, and it was no doubt because of his interview later today. She bit her lip, thinking of a smart way to mask a compliment so that it wasn't coming off as her trying to impress Jim.

Instead, it was Meredith who said, "You got a haircut! It's sexy. Hot."

Jim had attracted the wrong crowd. With no more than a quick smile of discomfort at the camera, he sat down at his desk and tried working for once in his life to try and ignore his nerves. Yes, contrary to popular belief, Jim Halpert got nervous for only two reasons: the status of his job, and Pam. Strange to think that the only person who made him nervous was not his girlfriend, but he knew the world worked in strange ways.

"Oh my god. Who are you and what did you do to Jim Halpert?"

Rachel was standing over her seat, a hot cup of coffee in stow. She'd been too busy having the great pineapple on pizza debate with Ryan to notice the impersonator sitting in Jim's place.

Ryan saw the extra miles Jim was taking, and suddenly became very self-conscious. Had he done enough to prepare for this interview? He'd been working here for far less than Jim and Michael, did he really stand a chance?

"They say to get the part, you have to look the part," Jim shrugged.

"Ah, I thought you looked a bit like Jan this morning. Watch out for Michael, he might get you confused," Ryan added, heading for the Annex for hopefully the last time in a while.

That was hard, and Pam could tell from Jim's silence that he was probably feeling very stressed without the unnecessary attacks on his appearance. She piped up, "Well, I think it looks great."

"You've got my stamp of approval," Rachel nodded.

"Thanks, guys."

—

JIM
Karen suggested that I get a haircut for the interview tomorrow so that I could look presentable and not, as she so lovingly puts it, homeless.

—

Ever since their adventure to the beach a few weeks back, the office has been disorderly, to say the least. Oscar told Rachel that a rumour had surfaced that she and Ryan were sleeping together again, which she managed to shut down before it got to Kelly. She'd learnt twice that Kelly never practiced blissful ignorance when it came to office gossip, and that her wrath was frightening for a woman of her stature.

Pam had gained a lot of respect from her colleagues. People didn't just leave the thought of her behind at the front door, but regularly sat with her in the break room or visited reception as Jim often did. Conversely, Karen had crawled into a shell to hide herself from the questions of the people. She already had enough doubts on her own about her relationship, and these people seemed to have trouble picking up social cues.

And now, Rachel could hear the sobs of Dwight K Schrute in Michael's office. Dwight never cried, the first time she'd ever seen the man cry or present even the slightest dignity of emotion was when he used his pepper spray on Roy last week. It had been a turbulent week since.