Fic!
Title: get out there and jump around
Rating: Eh. PG.
Characters/Pairing: It's Jam. It's mostly Pam, but it's Jam. :]
Spoilers/Warnings: Spoilers up through safety training.
Summary: Jim dares Pam to get in the bouncy castle. Pam ponders the idea of taking the plunge.
Notes: I asked for prompts and I got them. :] Thanks raaby_lilly and murf1013 who both said they wanted to see a bouncy castle fic, and arctic_puffin22 who said Jim could always dare her to get in. :] Thanks!
"I dare you to get in there."
She turns from staring at the castle to look at Jim, whose grin is slowly spreading across his face.
"What?"
"Go on Beesly," he says, gesturing toward the castle, "get in there. Jump around."
She smiles and remembers a time when she would have gotten in, no question, just because Jim asked.
"Only if you get in first." She says, and stalls for time.
"Oh sure," he says, "the first time I bounce I'll break the ceiling."
"Are you implying that I'm short?"
"Are you implying that you're not?"
She gives an exaggerated gasp, and he grins.
She waits, tense, for him to renew the dare. She almost wants him too, and she doesn't want to know (or admit) why.
He's looking from Michael to the bouncy castle, his eyebrows drawn together, and she stares at him. He's sweet, and he's smart, and he just dared her to jump around in an inflatable castle.
She slowly begins to slip her foot out of her shoe, wondering if anyone is watching, and wondering if that will make a difference.
"Oh my God. He's gonna kill himself pretending to kill himself." Jim says suddenly, and she puts her foot back down on the ground, a swirling sense of disappointment, confusion, and sudden horror rushing into her stomach.
Michael was such an idiot sometimes, she thought with a sudden vehemence, and put her shoe back on.
*****
The clock ticked slowly toward five as Michael strode around the office, proclaiming the dangers of the modern workplace loudly to anyone who wanted (or didn't want) to hear. Pam sat at her desk, curling her toes in her shoes and wondering what it would feel like to bounce. Just once.
Pam sits behind her desk, dragging her chair back and forth with her toes, feeling the floor under her feet. It feels cool. Nice.
*****
Pam watches everybody leave -- Dwight a careful five minutes after Angela, Michael muttering "I Braveheart" under his breath, Phyllis smiling to herself, Kelly giggling on about how Love Actually would be a great thing to watch tonight, and Ryan barely protesting, Karen quietly and briskly, her head held high.
And Jim.
He grins at her on his way out, one eyebrow up.
"Mondays." He says, shakes his head, and grabs a jelly bean. She smiles and realizes as he walks out the door, that she misses him already.
She hates that.
She slowly slips her feet back into her shoes and stands, putting on her coat and picking up her bag. She peers from the window and sees that the parking lot is empty.
As Pam gets into the elevator she is engaging herself in a furious debate, her bottom lip caught in her teeth, her toes curling and uncurling inside her shoes. It wouldn't take long, after all.
When she walks out the door she takes another look around and then walks quickly toward the castle. Her heart is thumping. She could swear she is going to get caught any second, which is stupid, because there's nothing to get caught doing. She hasn't even bounced yet, and even if (when) she does, that's not a crime.
But as she puts her purse down behind the hedge and takes off her coat, she is nervous. Irrationally nervous. Her heart thumps as she slips out of her shoes and walks, her nylons collecting dirt, toward the castle. She casts one more quick look around her, sees no one, and takes the quick hop in before she can change her mind.
It's a strange feeling, standing on this stuff that is sinking beneath her feet. It has the feeling (and she hopes she is right) that it will give, but not break. She's pretty sure KB Toys won't take back a bouncy castle with a big hole through the floor.
And so, feeling absolutely ridiculous, she gives a small, hesitant, jump.
And when she is done, when she has sunk into the floor and then been flung back up into the air, her hair bouncing around her shoulders in a way she knows will make it frizzy in the morning, she does it again. And again. And again.
She still feels ridiculous, she thinks as she leaps into the air, flying across the floor, her hair completely hopeless, but she also feels ridiculously good.
Jim comes back out of the office carrying his forgotten coat and stops dead, because in front of him is Pam Beesly, receptionist (oh, and the girl he's in love with, yes, that) bouncing around in a children's toy and having the time of her life.
And much as he wishes he could join her, he knows he can't -- but at least it's a start, he thinks with a grin as she falls, giggling, to the floor.
Rating: Eh. PG.
Characters/Pairing: It's Jam. It's mostly Pam, but it's Jam. :]
Spoilers/Warnings: Spoilers up through safety training.
Summary: Jim dares Pam to get in the bouncy castle. Pam ponders the idea of taking the plunge.
Notes: I asked for prompts and I got them. :] Thanks raaby_lilly and murf1013 who both said they wanted to see a bouncy castle fic, and arctic_puffin22 who said Jim could always dare her to get in. :] Thanks!
"I dare you to get in there."
She turns from staring at the castle to look at Jim, whose grin is slowly spreading across his face.
"What?"
"Go on Beesly," he says, gesturing toward the castle, "get in there. Jump around."
She smiles and remembers a time when she would have gotten in, no question, just because Jim asked.
"Only if you get in first." She says, and stalls for time.
"Oh sure," he says, "the first time I bounce I'll break the ceiling."
"Are you implying that I'm short?"
"Are you implying that you're not?"
She gives an exaggerated gasp, and he grins.
She waits, tense, for him to renew the dare. She almost wants him too, and she doesn't want to know (or admit) why.
He's looking from Michael to the bouncy castle, his eyebrows drawn together, and she stares at him. He's sweet, and he's smart, and he just dared her to jump around in an inflatable castle.
She slowly begins to slip her foot out of her shoe, wondering if anyone is watching, and wondering if that will make a difference.
"Oh my God. He's gonna kill himself pretending to kill himself." Jim says suddenly, and she puts her foot back down on the ground, a swirling sense of disappointment, confusion, and sudden horror rushing into her stomach.
Michael was such an idiot sometimes, she thought with a sudden vehemence, and put her shoe back on.
*****
The clock ticked slowly toward five as Michael strode around the office, proclaiming the dangers of the modern workplace loudly to anyone who wanted (or didn't want) to hear. Pam sat at her desk, curling her toes in her shoes and wondering what it would feel like to bounce. Just once.
Pam sits behind her desk, dragging her chair back and forth with her toes, feeling the floor under her feet. It feels cool. Nice.
*****
Pam watches everybody leave -- Dwight a careful five minutes after Angela, Michael muttering "I Braveheart" under his breath, Phyllis smiling to herself, Kelly giggling on about how Love Actually would be a great thing to watch tonight, and Ryan barely protesting, Karen quietly and briskly, her head held high.
And Jim.
He grins at her on his way out, one eyebrow up.
"Mondays." He says, shakes his head, and grabs a jelly bean. She smiles and realizes as he walks out the door, that she misses him already.
She hates that.
She slowly slips her feet back into her shoes and stands, putting on her coat and picking up her bag. She peers from the window and sees that the parking lot is empty.
As Pam gets into the elevator she is engaging herself in a furious debate, her bottom lip caught in her teeth, her toes curling and uncurling inside her shoes. It wouldn't take long, after all.
When she walks out the door she takes another look around and then walks quickly toward the castle. Her heart is thumping. She could swear she is going to get caught any second, which is stupid, because there's nothing to get caught doing. She hasn't even bounced yet, and even if (when) she does, that's not a crime.
But as she puts her purse down behind the hedge and takes off her coat, she is nervous. Irrationally nervous. Her heart thumps as she slips out of her shoes and walks, her nylons collecting dirt, toward the castle. She casts one more quick look around her, sees no one, and takes the quick hop in before she can change her mind.
It's a strange feeling, standing on this stuff that is sinking beneath her feet. It has the feeling (and she hopes she is right) that it will give, but not break. She's pretty sure KB Toys won't take back a bouncy castle with a big hole through the floor.
And so, feeling absolutely ridiculous, she gives a small, hesitant, jump.
And when she is done, when she has sunk into the floor and then been flung back up into the air, her hair bouncing around her shoulders in a way she knows will make it frizzy in the morning, she does it again. And again. And again.
She still feels ridiculous, she thinks as she leaps into the air, flying across the floor, her hair completely hopeless, but she also feels ridiculously good.
Jim comes back out of the office carrying his forgotten coat and stops dead, because in front of him is Pam Beesly, receptionist (oh, and the girl he's in love with, yes, that) bouncing around in a children's toy and having the time of her life.
And much as he wishes he could join her, he knows he can't -- but at least it's a start, he thinks with a grin as she falls, giggling, to the floor.