A girl, a guy and an office job.
Maxine is just your average 20-something who has no idea how she ended in Scranton, Pennsylvania or Dunder Mifflin for that matter. All she knows is that she there now, and the one bright light in dark place is the...
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After the phone call, things had been pretty awkward at the shared three-way desk between Jim and Max. The tension that the two shared was becoming unbearable for them both, and it needed to be addressed soon but for now, it seemed smart to just ignore it.
_
"Oh, my god," Max said, holding her chest as she laughed, "so, he's like I would much rather have a pic with just the two of us, right?" she says cutting herself off as she retails the story of what she'd just witnessed, "and she asks him if he as a camera, and he doesn't so he just fuckin' shouts 'does anyone have a camera here', everyone completely ignores him—including me, the licensed photographer with a camera. So, he fuckin' runs out of the office to look for you."
"And, you had a camera?" John, the producer asked her, he'd started laughing by now too, but the sound of his laugh was so bizarre that it caused Max to absolutely lose her shit.
Suddenly, without warning she stopped, "I think I just peed on myself."
_
After a quick change of clothes, she was back at her desk, miserably, as Jim talked to Ryan on the phone.
"So, I just got the fax closing the sale, and uh, it's big. It is really big." Jim said proudly, the happiness he was feeling pissing off both Max and Parry. Luckily, she couldn't hear the other end, or she would get angry at the sound of Ryan's voice, so it was a very one-sided conversation.
3rd
Jim
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"Thanks," Jim said, leaning back in his chair, every now and then his eyes would land on Max, but she never noticed. He sighed, rolling his eyes at Ryan's response, "I just— no, I didn't. I just logged it in right here so," he said looking at the document on his computer. "all right, well it already we through so..." just when Jim thought the conversation was over, Ryan asked him a question that made his blood boil.
"So, you still banging Max, or can I get her now?" Ryan asked him, like the total tool he was. Instead of giving him a piece of his mind, he hung up the phone and took a LOT of deep breath, seconds later Max's office phone rang.
"Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, this is Maxine speaking, how can I help you today?" she answer, her voice lifeless and empty. Jim watched her take the call, he couldn't help it, her face just made him so damn calm.
"Ryan, if you call this line again, I will find a high priestess and curse your pasty, disgusting, chauvinist ass," she told him, the tone of her voice something that Jim had never heard before and he thanked God because it was terrifying; and just like a switch it was over, "thank you, have a lovely day!"
_
"Uh, Max, Jim, please come in her please," Michael said, somehow catching both Jim and Max walking the same path, something that hasn't happened in a while.
"Oh boy," she mumbled, sharply turning into his office.
"I am downloading some N3P," Michael said stupidly, in his stupid fashion.
"I hate you," Max mumbled under her breath.
"That's not it," Jim mumbled at the same time. The two had quickly shared a small look, causing Jim to smile at her before she could look away.
"Music," Michael told them, completely his sentence as if he was right and pissing max off in the process. She was at the point in her pregnancy where men just really made her angry.
"Nope." She said.
"Yeah," Jim said at the same time again, the two shared another glance.
"For a CD mixtape."
She sighed deeply, "oh my god!"
"Close," Jim told him, trying to help the situation.
"Is it?" she asked, looking up at him, unintentionally biting her lip. Jim tried to form a word, but it seemed close to impossible, so he only nodded.
"For Holly," Michael said as the two continued to stare at one another. Max's heart was beating out of her chest, her baby—Parry, doing flips inside of her as she stared at Jim who just wants to kiss her one more time, if only he could turn back the clock.
"I have to go," Max said, abruptly cutting off their eye contact and walking out of his office and toward the elevator.
"Max!" she heard Jim yell behind her, ignoring him completely she speed up, "Max!" he yelled again, getting the attention of everyone in the office, especially Pam's.
Max pushed the button repeatedly as Jim's loud footsteps filled her ears, "come on, come on, come on!" she mumbled before sighing in relief when the elevator door finally opened, "thank god!" she said, stepping in and pushing the button that forces the doors to close but sadly, she wasn't quick enough, because Jim had stopped the closing and stepping into the elevator. Without thinking, he pushed the force stop button.
"What the hell did you do?" Max asked him as the rush of the elevator coming to a stop hit them.
"I need to talk to you," Jim told her, standing between her and the control panel, looking at her with sad puppy dog eyes.
She shook her head at his annoying self-pity, "no, you don't Jim." She told him, folding her arms over her chest, "can you move please?" she asked, instead of giving her an answer, her question fell on to the floor.
"I'm sorry, Max," he told her after a few seconds of silence.
She shook her, "no," she told him, her voice breaking as her eyes started to fill, "no, you don't get to apologize just so you can feel better about your shitty decisions," she said, her hormones spiking as tears stated to side down her face.
"That's not why I am apologizing Max," Jim said, he had a practiced speech that he had been planning on saying to her for months now, but now that they were in close quarters for the first time since the incident, his mind was drawing a blank; so he tried is best to speak directly from his heart, "what I did was fucked up and I know that and I fully acknowledge that, from the button of my heart I am sorry," he told her, licking his dry lips, "and I 100 % regret every moment of it," he told her, a huge weight lifting from his shoulders as he finally admitted the words he been so scared to say but had thought for a while now.
"You think that makes this," she did a circular hand motion, "me feel any better, Jim?" she asked, embracing the tears and the sadness that she was feeling in the moment, "do you have any idea what any of this has been like for me, huh? We were good, or at least I thought we were—hell I was great, then one day you just dropped me like what we shared meant nothing to you and for Pam of all people, Pam?" she wiped her tears, trying to keep the rest in but she was failing miserable, "maybe, maybe read too deep into, into us or something but, damn it Jim, you hurt me and I don't think I can ever forgive you that."
