"ALL RIGHT, LET'S GET STARTED." Jim was sitting at the head of the table in the conference room. Dwight, Ryan, and I was on his right side. Karen, Andy, and Stanley on his left. Leaving, Phyllis straight down the barrel at the other end of the table. "Oh, first off, we're supposed to be pushing card stock this week, so... let's push card stock this week." Jim jokingly encourages with his fist in a ball. Dwight then slams a tape recorder on the table. I look down at the recorder, my brows furrowing and my lips pulled down. I send a questioning look to Jim (who I've grown considerably close with over the past month). Jim sends his famous smirk right back at me.

"Uh, also— What is this?" Jim questions, pointing to the recorder with his pen.

    "Tape recorder." Dwight says like its the most boring thing in the entire world.

    "For what?" Jim asks, no emotion in his voice other than annoyance.

    "For recording." I raise my eyes at his sass.

    "Micheal is on vacation, and he has asked me to record all meetings and to type up the transcripts." I simply roll my pale blue eyes.

"Okay, uh, Karen, any news from that law firm?" Jim asks. I doodle on the corner of my notebook, I got an idea and I couldn't let it escape now.

    "Yeah, the deal closed yesterday. It's a six-month commitment." Karens response is short and sweet enough for Jim to change directions very quickly.

"Oh, my God. Dwight, what are you doing?" Jim yells. A small smile works its way onto my face.

    "What?" Dwight looks up from his paper work confused.

    "You're not allowed to take off your pants in the middle of the office." Dwight still not getting the joke looks to Jim.

    "I'm not." He says slowly.

    "Dwight, you know what? Just back off. Okay that's making me uncomfortable. This is sexual harassment, by the way." My face is probably bright red from trying to hold in my laughter. My shoulders are slightly shaking from the silent hysterics.

"Oh my God. He's got a knife!" Jim exclaims.

    "I do not have a knife!" Dwight shouts into the recorder.

    "No, let the record show that Dwight K. Schrute is now completely nude and is holding a plastic knife to Evangeline's neck." I can't hold it back any longer. I locked eyes with Jim and explode in giggles. Jim's grin only grew at my reaction.

    "Let the record show that Jim Halpert is a liar!"  Dwight shouted into the recording for the second time.

"Dwight Schrute is now wearing a baby's bonnet." Jim spoke calmly, the recorder held up to his lips and his wide eyes starring Dwight down.

    "I am not." Dwight denies. Phyllis suddenly gasped,

    "Oh, Jim Carrey just walked in. Dwight, get his autograph for Micheal, quickly." I giggle into my hand while Dwight tries to downplay everything they say.

"Dwight, what is that on your stomach?" Karen asks bending down, pretending she see something beneath all his clothing. "Is that a 'Muppet Babies' tattoo?" Jim hops on that band wagon immediately.

    "Oh, my God, Karen, you're right. That is Animal from the 'Muppet Babies'. I shake my head in disagreement before adding,

    "There's just no way. It has to be Snuffaluffagus." Jim's eye widened in amusement. I don't usually participate in pranks, but today was not one of those days.

    "I am now chopping off Phyllis' head with a chainsaw!" Andy yell, startling both me and Ryan. Then it goes really quiet, Andy's heavy breathing filling in the awkward silence. He then started to imitate the sound of a chainsaw. I looked down at my hands in my lap. Almost laughing at how tense the room was. I look back up at Jim, a piece of hair falling into my line of sight.

    "Snuffaluffagus." Jim mouths to me, unable to keep the shit-eating grin off his face. I scrunch my nose up at him and stick my tongue out at him.

***

    "Christmas was super fun, thank you for asking." I smiled into the camera. "I got to spend Christmas Day with my mom in the hospital, so that was a treat." They really didn't need to know that I spent the rest of Christmas by myself. I didn't want to bring down the mood. Brian shifts to get the boom-mic closer to me. He's always readjusting himself because of me being quiet.

    "Sorry." I say aloud. Brian shakes his head. He can't talk that close to the mic so Chloe does it for him.

    "Don't worry about it sweetheart, we've gotten use to you being as silent as a mouse." A blush overtakes my cheeks, making the crew share a chuckle.

***

Being in the back of the office has its ups and downs. Martin and Hannah quit leaving: accounting, Creed, and me all in the back. The ups were: can't hear really hear anything so dying of cringe is at a lower risk. Downs: Creed, being far away from Jim and Pam (even though it's literally twenty steps away). Still, I can't really complain because this place pays the bills and gets me an unhealthy amount of pizza. It was looking to be a successful morning, until Micheal came in.

"Hey, mon!" He greeted us, dragging out the 'mon'. I pursed my pale lips, not really loving all the noise so early in the morning. "At Sandals Jamaica, when somebody says, 'Hey, mon,' everybody say, 'Hey, mon,' back." Stanley saved us all by interrupting Micheal about his bonus check. I took a quick glance at my watch, debating on whether or not, I should have a cup of tea for a pick-me-up. I came to the conclusion that there is never not a time for tea. So I grabbed my thermos and quietly walked to the kitchen. Just as I was about to open the door, I noticed Jim and Karen standing tensely next to one another.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Jim asked. I hid in plain sight pretending to be getting a paper cone of water. Karen turned around muttering a,

    "Nope." And walking out the other door. Jim watched her walk out the door with a melancholy look on his face. I broke my cover and walked in. I made my way next to Jim, fidgeting with a bag of Jasmine tea.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop." I apologized softly. Jim looked down at me with a strained smirk.

    "Yeah, you did." The taller man said, not an ounce of annoyance in his voice.

"What seem's to be the problem, O' Tall one?" Jim gave a chuckle at the nickname. His eyes focused on the bathrooms. Not really meaning to focus on them, but that's where his eyes happened to land while avoiding mine.

    "Karen. She, uh... wants to move into an apartment really close to mine." I furrowed my eyebrows not really understanding why he has a problem with it.

    "And?" I know that there's something he's not telling me. Over the past month that I've know him, Jim Halpert has become one of my favorite people. He's smart. Too smart to be working here. He's also one of the funniest people I have ever met. But most of all he's kind. A genuine, kind person. Those are hard to come by these days. Jim sighs and scuffs his shoe against the tile.

    "And... I guess I'm just not ready." He says in a small voice. My lips curve into a sad smile. Even though he hasn't said anything to me yet. Deep down, I know he's still hung up about Pam. He was in love with her. That's not something you forget in a few months. I set my tea down on the counter and face the bathrooms with him. I give him a gentle nudge.

    "And that's okay." I tell him with a nod of my head. "That's perfectly alright. But, you're never going to be ready if you don't let something new in." I see Jim turn his head towards me in my peripheral vision. I meet his gaze, being welcomed warmly by his green eyes. A smile tugs on his lips.

    "Has anyone ever told you, you make 'dumb blonde' look dumb." A shining smile breaks out across my lips and a light rose color on my cheeks with it. I took my tea from the counter and held it up to him.

    "I can drink to that, Halpert." The brunette mocks a shocked expression. He steps away from the counter, walking backwards to the door.

    "What would you even know about drinking? Aren't you like, seven?" My eyes narrowed at the smug man. Sticking out my tongue before he turned away.

~~~

    "Feelin' hot, hot, hot. Feelin' hot, hot, hot. Feelin'—" Micheal has been on a continuous loop for about fifteen minutes. Every time he repeats, a bit of my soul chips away. So, does my patience. Inventory is today because Micheal wasn't here when we were suppose to do it. Therefore, for the rest of my day I will be counting paper stock and order more of what is running low. Super exciting and not at all boring. I saw Pam walk out of Micheal's office so I bee-lined over to her.

    "I'm making it look like I'm taking candy so Angela doesn't yell at me again." I whisper to the receptionist. Pam rolls her eyes at the mention of Angela's name. I open up the little jelly-bean dispenser, trying not to touch every single bean in hopes of finding the orange ones.

    "I don't know why you like the orange ones so much. Blue is much better." I narrow my eyes at the older woman.

    "You are very much mistaken. I think you meant to say, 'Blue sucks major ass, and orange wins every time'." Pam knows how passionate I am about my jelly-beans. Pam is about to make a comeback when Micheal strolls out of his office.

    "Tonight, we are going to have an inventory luau. I want to bring back a little slice of paradise to the Dunder-Mifflin warehouse inventory. So, party planning committee get on it." Micheal points to Angela at the end of his statement.

***

"Yes. I am apart of the party planning committee. But I really had no choice in the matter, Pam said she would murder me."  Chloe nods her head up and down, writing something down in her notes. Chloe looks back up at me.

"What do you think of Angela's leadership?" Chloe asks. My icy-blue eyes widen a fraction. I look down into my lap, fighting a smile that wants to make its appearance.

"That's such a good question. Let me tell you all how much I love living." Brian and Neil laugh openly at my joke, Chloe shaking her head in amusement.

***

"By the end of the day? That's impossible." Angela exclaims, glancing at me and Pam for a fraction of a second. "The Jamaicans don't have a word for 'impossible.'" Micheal falsely informs the office.

"Yep, it's English. It's impossible." Jim adds in a monotonous voice.

    "Micheal, there's no way we can do it in time." Angela sounds exhausted and I don't blame her. If I had to deal with all of Micheal's stupid party ideas; I too would be exhausted. After that Micheal went into his office with the a few of the crew. I knew that this was going to lead to another useless conference meeting, so I just chose to stay by Pam. Continuing my happy search for the orange jelly-beans.

    After finding seven of the only good jelly-bean flavor. I felt someone behind me. I looked a Pam to see her looking behind me. I turned around, jumping when I realized how close they were.

    "Sorry." Ryan smirks. I give him a forced smile and wave him off. I hoped that would be the end of the conversation but I was wrong. "So, you got a boyfriend?" He asked bluntly, making me flush red. I shake my head 'no'. My platinum blonde hair whirling around my fast moving head. Ryan simply gives me this look. It was a cross between smugness and contentment. And the strolled back to his desk. My ears were burning with embarrassment and my mouth was gaping like a fish. I looked to Pam to see her just as shocked as me. That is why I do not care for Ryan Howard, one bit.

***

"Kelly and I aren't going to work out. She's just not the girl for me." Ryan Howard spoke clearly to the camera crew. "And she talks too much." No one in the crew really like Ryan, especially Neil. Everyone knew he was going to turn into the worlds biggest jack-ass.

"I need to start planning ahead. So, I thought, 'why not go for the girl that barely talks at all'. Plus you have to admit, Walker's not bad on the eyes." His attitude towards the young girl the crew had grown to love was very concerning. Ryan just smiled smugly into the camera. Neil clenched his jaw tight, trying to focus the anger to his teeth, instead of a thousand-dollar camera. It was decided right there, that Neil Donavan hated Ryan Howard.