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Blog Archive
Interoffice Romance.
This week one of my favorite TV shows comes back on the air for the new season. I fell in love with The Office in its first episode (American version- Sorry, Q). The quirky humor and banter reminded me of my days back in retail. The way you have to learn how to co-inhabit a working space without killing someone in eight hours and the bond you develop over years of working for the hell hole. You develop relationships with people even when you’re not trying to, whether you hate their guts or want to push them against a wall in the warehouse and have your wicked way with them for an hour. These are the relationships that keep you going through those torturous eight hour treks into your own person hell. And these are the types of relationships we convey back into our writing.
I watch The Office for the humor, mostly, but most important to me is the relationship between Pam and Jim. Pam is the front desk office coordinator (I will not use the dreaded word that starts with an “S” and don’t you dare either.) whose desk is adjacent to Jim’s desk. Jim is a sales rep who spends most of his time thinking up ways to torture his desk mate, Dwight- the dork. Pam and Jim start out as co-conspirators. In order to keep themselves sane around all the insanity that is The Office, they institute practical jokes focused on Dwight. Dwight is a thorn in Jim’s side. He’s always trying to steal his sales. He’s a kiss ass to the boss (which this is not a good trait with any employee, but even worse when your boss is Steve Carroll’s character) and he is a know-it-all.
So they start as friends. They take breaks together. They share jokes. They have fun. It’s innocent. New. Fun.
And then they kiss. Pam and Jim on the rooftop with soda and pizza and fireworks.
But there is a complication. Pam is engaged to the warehouse supervisor.
So Jim pines away. And Pam shoves her attraction deep down inside. They still remain friends. They still joke and laugh and have a good time, but you can always feel the tension bubbling at the surface, threatening to boil over. I’m begging for it, “Please. Please by all that’s unholy, kiss her again. Make her see that he’s all wrong for her. Please Jim. Don’t let her go.”
But Jim is a good guy and Pam is shy.
Every time I watch this show I can’t help but smile. Years ago I had an interoffice romance that was nearly the carbon copy of Pam and Jim. If you could’ve taken script of our conversations, you might find the same kind of bantering and joking. We went on breaks and helped each other get through the long days of monotony and boredom. Times spent in the warehouse avoiding the managers were some of the best days and some of the worst days depending on the conversation and teasing.
But it never went any further. I was shy. He was giving me space.
Until one night he kissed me in the dark.
What they don’t tell you about those types of relationships, the only way to ignore it is to pretend it never happened and that’s much easier said than done. You can’t blush whore red every time he looks at you and pretend nothing has happened between you.
So the chase begins. Do you ignore it or do you pursue it? Do you lick your bottom lip when he looks at you or do you make a joke about how he’s got pizza sauce on his company shirt? When you think that it will turn you inside out, the unthinkable happens. It no longer becomes a choice. It becomes the air you breathe. You wake to see his face and to hear his voice. It’s like you’ve suddenly become possessed, obsessed with being at work so you can see him.
He feels the same way. You can see the look in his eye when he looks at you. The way he smiles at you from across the store. You get butterflies when you talk to him. The thought of actually moving away like you decided six months ago is tearing a hole in your heart. He doesn’t try to talk you out of it, deciding instead that he can come visit on the weekends and you agree a little too quickly.
Walk away, you tell yourself. Walk away before you ruin what you’ve got.
Ask him out! It’s that pesky little voice in the back of your mind that’s always getting you into trouble.
I hear you wore sweatpants to the club the other night, he says.
You laugh, because that’s what you’d normally do and there is a little part of you that’s glad he didn’t see that tequila drunken escapade.
Come to the club with me, he says. Wear your sweatpants, I don’t care. I think you’d look hot.
You give him a saucy look and suddenly realized when you turn to leave, your escape route has been blocked by refrigerator boxes. He’s standing in front of you, looking down into your eyes looking dark and sexy and you lick your lips because suddenly your mouth is dry.
The silence is only perpetuated by the fierce thumping of your heart. The warehouse is vacated in your time of need. Being alone with him is a very bad, bad thing. Friends first leaves you with no barriers to guard yourself against advances, even if they are wanted- really wanted.
Sure, you squeak and slip past him.
He laughs, I wasn’t going to kiss you.
You don’t answer. Instead you toss a saucy look over your shoulder and high tail it out of the warehouse like hell hounds are nipping your heels.
You think about it all day. You think about the look in his eyes all night. And the rest of the week while you avoid him. He’s avoiding you too. You can tell. You can’t tell if it’s a game of cat and mouse or if you scared him off. The only way to find out is to jump right in and go out to the club.
So you do and you find out it’s not a game. Oh, it’s really not a game.
On Thursday, I will find out the fate of my favorite TV interoffice romance Pam and Jim. Jim was going to propose to Pam in the season finale but another couple ruined the mood. Where will they go from here? I don’t care but I do know the ride getting there is one helluva one and I can’t wait to see what kind of fireworks explode this year.
What sort of relationships between your hero and heroine do you like to write? Been friends for years, weeks, months, days or strangers destined to be together? Readers, what’s your favorite relationship to read about? Or if you don’t want to talk about that, how about your own story of interoffice romance? And remember its Wednesday. Wednesday are scandalous days *wink*
Books by the Crew
55 comments:
What a great post, Sin! I think we'd all want the romance you described. How did your love story turn out? Mine hasn't even begun. In fact, I'm pretty sure I don't want it to. Twenty-three is awfully young for commitment. In fact(too many 'in fact's'?), forty is sounding too young for commitment.:)
Ok, as for what I like in a romance.I love the friendship one best but tend to write the 'instant connection'. It's hard to pull off. I actually do have a friendship book coming up, though. Hopefully I'll make it as good as you make it sound!
I love reunions the most. I think that is why I wrote HB as an unrequited love story. It also gave my hero a dark obsessive vice when he was denied what he wanted. :)
My next book---Affair by Sonata---my heroine serves as a muse for the hero. So they kind of work together.
Sin, you're on great form today.......reduced me to jelly as usual! :D
I love the imagery. You paint such vivid pictures with your words. I don't need to watch the TV version now!
My current heroine has siren blood and unknowingly transmits all sorts of desires to people she likes. Not exactly inter-office but hot just the same! Real life encounters were most amusing when at school/college but I need a few pints before going there again! I'm much more mature now...I think. :?
Kelly, from my perspective 23 is a perfect time for commitment, but you must be sure. Perhaps a hot blooded Welsh man could help convince you. Those Celts from across the border can be very romantic, especially at an Eisteddfod. Just a random thought! :lol:
Tif, Dark obsessive vice?! You never change! *g*
Sin - as usual, this is perfectly done. I love love sexual tension.
As far as the kind of relationship I write, I'm not sure I have a preference. I think as long as the characters are hyperaware of each other, that's enough to keep it going.
My interoffice romance? I married him! LOL!! DH and I sat next to each other in a cubicle farm. The rest is history. :)
What can I say, Q... Mind you, it is a vice I wouldn't fall into... opium addiction is rather dark and dangerous. :)
Tiff - I think that was the understatement of the universe. LOL!!
NAh... maybe of the blog... :)
LOL!! You're right of course. Of the blog. :) At least so far....
What happened!!!!! You're not gonna leave us hanging are you? That's just cruel.
I used to work in an office where you could cut the sexual tension with a knife. There were about 50 of us in this office located in Southern California and the average age was about 26-32. I think I was the only one not getting any! LOL Of course, I had the love of my life about an hour south on the weekends (who is now my DH!) Very fun time in my life - lots of sun, sand, romance, and drama.
I think one of my favorite stories to read is the one about friends who've known each other forever and fall in love. Or unrequited love finally returned.
I love going on these little journeys every Wednesday morning. Is that how you spell journeys?
I've sort of done the interoffice romance thing. We had lots of tension and flirting and playfulness then right when he was transferring to another office a few hours away, we hooked up. We rarely see each other now and I answer the phone sometimes when he calls for someone else. Neither of us act different which is what cracks me up. But I have to work very hard not to reveal anything on my face in front of other co-workers. That's one secret I DO NOT want people knowing.
This sort of thing always reminds me of that saying, "Don't poop where you eat." LOL! When you spend 40 to 60 hrs a week with people, the last thing you want to do is hook up then break up with a co-worker. So uncomfortable!
I haven't written a story where the H/H have been friends forever but now that I think about it, those are some of my favorites. Jennifer Crusie's Crazy For You is a good example. The H/H have known each other since childhood and the hero was even once married to the heroine's sister. Yeah, that's a fun book. And there's an up-against-the-wall scene that is more than worth the price. ;)
Kelly, I was 18 when I met my interoffice romance. I was wild and untamed as an 18 year old and he was older and just as wild. It wasn't until we mellowed out a little that we could be more than friends. I think he recognized that before I did. I was hellbent on having a certain relationship and he was hellbent on having it all or nothing.
Twenty- three is young. Those were some of my best years and really not that long ago. Time seems to fly by faster the older you get. But too young for committment? Never. But I think it all hinges on you life experience up to that point. I never thought I'd commit period. In fact *wink* I was perfectly content to run around hell's creation with my wild streak until the end of time.
Sometimes life doesn't work out the way you plan it. LOL
Tiff, I love reunion stories too. I was actually debating writing a straight romance with a reunion ending. Of course, I couldn't write the typical reunion. I'd have to throw a wrench into the whole thing to make it interesting for me. Childhood love is another story I like to read. I have one of those that didn't work out. You never forget them.
I love dark, obsessive heroes. They are my vice.
Q, you know I adore you. You're like my muse. I had nothing last night for a blog and it was pushing 11pm. And I kept thinking to myself, I can't let Q down. He expects things out of me.
I was hoping you had watched the British version of The Office so you could tell me that I'm watching the crap version. (That's what I've heard, BTW.) But I see you have not. Hm, what am I going to do with you?
A heroine with siren blood? Wicked. I can think of all kinds of wicked things this heroine could do and I bet you can too, which is why you've written her.
My favorite relationship stories are when the H&H have known each other for a long time. But they don’t like each other. Can’t Even stand to be in the same hemisphere with each other. Then “an event” throws them together. And all that seething angry emotion starts bubbling over into something… surprising… and lustful. Which only makes the H&H angrier and more determine to stay away from each other. Because how can you be attracted to someone you can’t stand? That’s just CRAZY.
Give me Crazy Love.
I like a story that takes two people who Were wrong for each other And turns them into two people who Are right for each other. The poor clueless souls just need a few hundred pages to figure it out.
Thank you for saying it Irish.
SIN Is cruel!
Cruel and Crueler Still For leaving us hanging. Now that oversight wouldn’t have happened Sin…
IF you had had A SECRETARY!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, this is the idiot in me coming out, but what's the definition of a reunion romance? Is it just the hero/heroine being reunited after a period of time? Or is there something more?
*now blushing furiously for asking such a silly question - but alas, google had no answer*
Great blog, Sin! I cannot wait for tomorrow night. I love Pam and Jim. I had an inter-office romance at one point - working as a dreaded S-word at a baseball camp. And there was this baseball coach from LSU there for the summer who was just soooooo cute! lol. Of course, any out-of-work contact between S-word employees and coaches was strictly forbidden, and of course we got caught....
My favorite romances to read are ones where the H/H were in love when younger, and somehow pulled apart by whatever circumstances. I love the depth of instant emotion whenever they come back into contact. In my next book, the H/H were married young, and viciously ripped apart through a series of uncontrollable circumstances. Ten years later, they're working on opposite sides of a big project. There's going to be some big fireworks!
Marn, the interoffice romance and I had plenty of the sexual tension going on. I love that you married your interoffice romance. Being friends first usually works out, especially when you have a lot of things in common. It's harder to work together once you're a couple though. Focus issues.. LOL
Ter, I have no idea what happened with this blog last night. I was planning on writing a blog asking for topics to write about and then I saw a commercial for the office with Pam and Jim front and center and I got sidetracked.
One of my favorite H&H friendship/relationships is the relationship between Hardy and Liberty in Sugar Daddy. Reminds me of childhood.
Because I'm a glutton for punishment and I like hybrids--I pick: "UNREQUITED *CRAZY* LOVE" You know, where you're attracted, you don't know why--and if you did pursue it, nothing could come of it because he's gloriously unavailable--but damned, if you don't want him anyway. On top of it, he's not even someone you should be remotely in love with. He's absolutely the last person who should be completing you in any way.
I haven't had the interoffice romance thing. I work with women. I have had a couple students (who GRADUATED) and came back around, and that gets awkward when you're like, "Oh, we're done." "I want to see you again." "Yeah, but I don't want to be seen. Congratulations on your graduation, goodbye." (You are the weakest link...)
Sorry, I was sick yesterday and still today...so I'm a little loopy...er than usual.
You want awkward. Date within your circle of friends. Then have a nasty breakup but everyone remains friends with all parties...that's FUN.
BTW, was Matty able to fit his head through the door on the way to work when he realized you wrote about him again? *LOL*
Dude, Sin, did I relate to the hounds of hell nipping at your heels. *LOL* Man oh man. "I wasn't going to kiss you..." but he's got that look on his face that clearly says, "But I was thinking about it." Which is why you're sprinting to begin with.
Oh, yes. I know That Guy well. It doesn't do any good to run. He's like the devil, by the time you arrive to your destination, blowsy and out of breath, you find he got there first and is waiting for you.
Hellion - I dated in my friend circle once. It didn't get too far, but we're still awkward sometimes.
Irish, you already know the end of the story. I just didn't say it in my outside voice.
Besides, this isn't an NC-17 blog day.
I'm still with my interoffice romance. We stopped working together about 10 months into our relationship and moved in together. Been together ever since. We're best friends and I think it's much easier to have a relationship with someone when you respect your friendship you had first.
Jules, you demented little kewpie doll, I love when the H&H have known each other forever and can't stand the sight of one another. I think it makes for more of a bittersweet tale in the end when they finally realize all the hatred between them was actual tension and chemestry that they didn't want to admit to.
PS. It would be cruel if everyone didn't know the end.
And I can't believe you used a dirty word on this blog. Honestly, you've ruined my good image of you, Jules. You're supposed to be the good one no matter how evil you are on the inside. *cackling*
That bittersweet thing reminds me of 3rd grade with that boy keeps pulling your pigtails and driving you crazy. In most cases, that's the boy you'll be in love with by senior year. LOL!
Hal- reunion love is like the love you had for a boy for the longest time, moved away (either of you), drifted apart and then came back together at a later date as adults to find that you still carried a flame for that person after all that time.
Yay, happy ending with Mattycakes. :) Soooo cute. :) I mean, not cute, because I'm sure you hate that, but you know what I mean....
Hellion I've dated within my circle of friends, really really good friends who were my axis of troublehood and everything I enjoyed about life. And when we started dating $hit hit the fan and friendships fell out and by the end of said relationship, I was barely hanging on to one friendship. The threads were fraying on it and the person who stayed with me until the end kept me from falling into a pit of darkness. We'd been friends for so long neither of us could imagine life without one another. But it was another one of those relationships that you recognize is determined to break you and we had to part ways. And I regret that and hate it and wish there was some other way. But in life there are those decisions that you have to live with and this is one of them and both of us respect that line no matter how much we want to go into the grey area we haven't.
So I totally get where you're coming from.
And Mattycakes doesn't know I wrote about him but he's suspecious when I asked Jim's desk mate's name. I couldn't remember. But he doesn't know I wrote about him. Not that he'd care anyway.
Yeah, I have one of those friendships that hangs by a thread--the "childhood" thread, so we keep supergluing it to keep it together. You try to do that clause of "boys don't matter more than friendship" but it doesn't always fly. Sometimes it's not even about the boy--but invariably he's the one that's going to take the blame when the friendship falls apart.
And yeah, the Boy probably isn't the best pick. I mean, look at us--do we look like the type who picks the obvious winner? No. That's boring. We want the wicked one, who might win, maybe, if you feed him enough oats and put up with his bad stable behavior. (Can anyone tell I've been rereading the Essex series and have horses on the brain?) Anyway...sometimes friendship is about letting your friends do the self-destructive thing because there is nothing you can do to stop it. You can only be there when it all falls apart because that is a true friend. Some of us have to learn the hard way and you have to accept that.
Weird how relationships take on new forms and take new meanings. I wouldn't talk to him for the longest time because he intimidated the hell out of me. I even try to set him up with my BFF because I figured she could manhandle him like he needed. He asked me out really early on in our friendship and I told him flat out NO. After that he just bided his time. He's smarter than I give him credit for although I'm not sure how smart it makes him for settling for me. I think he's crazy.Of course, people think I'm crazy. LOL
Oh, he cares. He brings it up every time I talk to him at the gym. "Did you all talk about me today on the blog?"
He bragged that he told you that I molested him, btw. *LOL* I said, "I heard. You got me in trouble." And he said, "Oh, she doesn't care."
Ha. How little he knows you. Super secret spy assassin. The stupid broad who ever touched him would find herself in a box, buried and never to be found again. All the screaming and scratching at the pine box wouldn't do her any good. You'd probably throw in a snake for good measure to keep her company...or maybe a rat. You're generous: you'd do both. Then you'd video tape it to show to all other wanna be tramps who'd see it and wouldn't DARE even look at him... Not care. Ha.
LOL! You ladies are cracking me up today. And, Sin, I'm so happy your romance worked out.:)
Hellion, I love the oats and stable behavior comment. It really is a fitting analogy.lol.
That's funny because when I laughed and said I didn't care he laughed and said to me-
"You say that but I know you do. I think you'd string someone up."
I love how he likes to play both sides of the court. LMAO
Wow. This convo has taken some interesting turns...
Oh Mattycakes isn't as sneaky as he'd like to think himself. And it's good to know he actually cares. Sometimes I get tired of his indifference. Though it's a game I play well myself.
LOL! I love when Sin opens up and gives us a look into the dark recesses of her mind.
I know. It doesn't happen very often. Mostly because it's a scary place in there. Lots of cobwebs and random thoughts of insane craziness.
I like your insane craziness. :) It's always so, hmmmm... entertaining? Compelling? I'm not even sure of a good word here. But I always want to know more.
It's always about a boy.
There is a song that relates to this for me that I always think of when I think of this friendship. It's by Dinah Washington- It Isn't Fair.
Oddly enough, this was a friendship with a boy. He just couldn't stand it anymore, and I didn't have the right answer for him to keep things the way they had always been. For so long he was in and out of my life but we'd always been so close and then one day he just wasn't a part of my life anymore. He was a part of my best friend's. It didn't bother me. In fact, I was happy for them. I wanted her to be happy. I was sure he could do that for her but like he always does, he disappears out of your life and doesn't come back.
Super glue couldn't hold us together when miles stretch out between you. Sometimes there's nothing you can do but let go. Stubborness will only take you so far before the rubber band rebounds back and stings you a good one. And that is the hard way because no matter how you want to try to stretch that relationship you know it's only going to bounce back again.
A relationship between girlfriends is much different than a relationship between guyfriends. The relationship band can stretch further between girlfriends because no matter how much you fight, you can always repair it. A friendship with a guyfriend, once damaged, you can never repair.
I'm reminded often of how quick a relationship with a guyfriend can go seriously wrong. They don't have the girl intution to help fix things. And chemestry between the two of you can go horribly wrong and be misconstrued and miscommunicated. It's easier to be friends with guys when you're really young, but it takes a lot of work when you become an adult and understand how the way the world works. A girl relationship is always constant, steady, true. We understand how each other work, how our brains process things and no matter how much we can't stand each other at any given second, two days later we're back to normal no matter how much super glue it took to repair the damage.
Marn, you are too sweet for words. Compelling makes me sound like an NBC mid-week made for TV movie. LOL
LMAO!!
That might be too high class for me.
LMAO
Sin - that stuff about being friends with guys reminds me of the movie, When Harry Met Sally. Probably because I watched it again last week. LOL! I've had lots of guy friends that I've been very close to but something always happened and the friendship ended. Come to think of it, it was always another female. In one case, my best friend at the time (HS) and then in another, my sister. Now that was a mess.
I have a friend here that I've known for 20 years. We've been through pretty much everything including not talking at all for five years. She just wouldn't give up on me and would periodically send me a card or a letter hoping I'd respond. I gave in, but it took a while. She still drives me batshit, but after 20 yrs, you might as well stick it out.
Thanks for the Rest of the Story, Sin. That’s so kind of you. So sweettttt so… Say, that’s so NOT like you. You must be sick. Did you get whatever Hellion has? Gosh I Hope that IT’S not contagious.
Great blog by the way, Sin. It has been both a Compelling & an Intriguing insight in to your mind. And I def can see your life as a made for TV movie… Watch
A Life of Sin
or Boys of Sin
or Romancing Sin
or… gosh Sin, you could be a mini series!
Sin said “You’re supposed to be the good one no matter how evil you are on the inside.”
Oh My Dearest Darling Sin. I would Never dream of disappointing you. Trust me. YOU might not see it … but … I Am Good. Very good. Thanks too my Wicked inside side.
*cackling* right back
LOL
I've never watched When Harry met Sally. I was supposed to for a health class (don't ask, I have no idea why it was supposed to relate and maybe don't want to know.) I should rent it. Maybe.
You know when you have a friend you've had for 20 years and no matter how crazy she makes you you're still friends that that's the type of person you need in your life. Those are the type of friends that work well in crisis times.
And now Jules is giving me over to a mini-series. Would that play on NBC or Lifetime?
And I hope all this cackling is making it into the mini-series. It would make for compelling TV. Bring people back for more.
NBC has limits what could be shown; Lifetime is too...frilly. I'm thinking more HBO or Cinemax mini-series.
Skinamax... Nice.
I knew someone would throw out the HBO. Only if I turned into a vampire or a demon would my life be interesting enough for HBO.
However, Skinamax might be a fit with how wild I was when I was younger. LOL
Oh, don't play. I saw the scandal sheets for last weekend. You're still a wild woman. *LOL*
Matty's worse than an old woman at the beauty parlor.
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