The Office, Karen
Characters: Karen
Words: 466
Summary: Set during Phyllis' Wedding. Karen didn't mean to drink so much at the reception.
Karen hadn't meant to drink so much at Phyllis' reception. As a rule, she didn't allow herself to become overly intoxicated in public places, especially not with so many people from her office present. There was a reason she always poured most of her shots into a potted plant on the nights that the Stamford sales team worked late - Karen knew that the worst thing an attractive woman looking to move up the corporate ladder could do was to be seen acting unprofessionally in front of her co-workers. Men like Todd Packer proved it an unfair double standard, but Karen had long ago decided to stop fighting losing battles.
She also developed a magnetic attraction to microphones when she was drunk. Luckily, she didn't have a bad voice, but there was a certain point of intoxication after which no one sang well - added to the dangers of what she might be inspired to say, swaying on stage with a captive audience and a microphone in her hands. Or at least, what she might say to one member of that audience.
But Phyllis and Bob Vance (Vance Refrigeration) had been generous to their guests, and as Jim led Karen back to their seats after dancing and offered to bring her a drink, her thirst finally broke down her no-alcohol resolution. After that, the warmth within her stomach and the light, giddy feeling that rushed through her small body were reasons enough in themselves to accept another, and then another, until Karen found herself standing on the stage with Scrantonocity, unsteady on her feet, singing and inordinately pleased at the way her voice echoed back at her from the large black speakers at her left.
The lights shone down around her, a colorful, dizzying brightness, and she laughed as she looked down from the stage into Jim's smile, lit by his cell phone screen he waved it back and forth - so dorky, but he was doing it for her, to make her smile. She laughed and the alcohol buzzed in her veins and at last she could look into Jim's eyes and not see the look on his face as he stared over the top of her head at someone she couldn't see but knew was there, not feel the way he stiffened in her arms, not remember the way his offer of a drink afterwards felt less like a gallant gesture and more like an excuse to get away. She could smile at him and believe that his smile and laugh were just for her, for her alone, because even though she had lost the fight for her heart to him before he even knew it had begun, she was going to win this one - no, she was winning; she was, she was, she was.
Words: 466
Summary: Set during Phyllis' Wedding. Karen didn't mean to drink so much at the reception.
Karen hadn't meant to drink so much at Phyllis' reception. As a rule, she didn't allow herself to become overly intoxicated in public places, especially not with so many people from her office present. There was a reason she always poured most of her shots into a potted plant on the nights that the Stamford sales team worked late - Karen knew that the worst thing an attractive woman looking to move up the corporate ladder could do was to be seen acting unprofessionally in front of her co-workers. Men like Todd Packer proved it an unfair double standard, but Karen had long ago decided to stop fighting losing battles.
She also developed a magnetic attraction to microphones when she was drunk. Luckily, she didn't have a bad voice, but there was a certain point of intoxication after which no one sang well - added to the dangers of what she might be inspired to say, swaying on stage with a captive audience and a microphone in her hands. Or at least, what she might say to one member of that audience.
But Phyllis and Bob Vance (Vance Refrigeration) had been generous to their guests, and as Jim led Karen back to their seats after dancing and offered to bring her a drink, her thirst finally broke down her no-alcohol resolution. After that, the warmth within her stomach and the light, giddy feeling that rushed through her small body were reasons enough in themselves to accept another, and then another, until Karen found herself standing on the stage with Scrantonocity, unsteady on her feet, singing and inordinately pleased at the way her voice echoed back at her from the large black speakers at her left.
The lights shone down around her, a colorful, dizzying brightness, and she laughed as she looked down from the stage into Jim's smile, lit by his cell phone screen he waved it back and forth - so dorky, but he was doing it for her, to make her smile. She laughed and the alcohol buzzed in her veins and at last she could look into Jim's eyes and not see the look on his face as he stared over the top of her head at someone she couldn't see but knew was there, not feel the way he stiffened in her arms, not remember the way his offer of a drink afterwards felt less like a gallant gesture and more like an excuse to get away. She could smile at him and believe that his smile and laugh were just for her, for her alone, because even though she had lost the fight for her heart to him before he even knew it had begun, she was going to win this one - no, she was winning; she was, she was, she was.