The Office fans are honed in on Steve Carrell and John Krasinski. Any time an Office alum is spotted with either of them, it sends ripples throughout the Office fandom. Especially when it was Jenna Fischer and John together, because of the Jim and Pam shippers out there. But the real love story that came from The Office is Jenna and Angela Kinsey, who played Angela Martin. Jenna and Angela met on the set and became best friends during the first season. The friendship has only grown stronger since. So strong the two produce their Office Ladies podcast together, using what Jenna calls their BBF shorthand when they communicate. Now they’ve written a memoir of their time on the show Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There. The pair are especially grateful for finding each other because they didn’t expect to find such a close friendship later in life.

Former costars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey have been fulfilling this need, first with their award-winning podcast Office Ladies and now with their upcoming book, Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There — which includes their most “personal” and hilarious anecdotes yet.

The two women tell PEOPLE how they first became friends (it involves sitting on a bench for hours onset) and reflect on some of their favorite memories, if Jim and Pam would still be together today and more.

Fischer says that she and Kinsey had been friendly during season 1 of The Office, but it wasn’t until they sat on a bench “for two full shoot days, which is about 12 hours each day” during the filming of the “Basketball” episode that they really bonded. By the end of the shoot, they had told each other their “life story,” says Fischer, 46.

“We were leaving the warehouse and we were so giddy,” she says. “We had this really fun friendship. You don’t expect to make a friendship like this when you’re older.”

The day became even more epic when they encountered Carell.

“We had to walk through this big parking lot, and it was at night. Like school girls, we linked arms and started doing Schlemiel and Schlimazel from Laverne & Shirley and Steve was walking up behind us,” Kinsey remembers. “We were so embarrassed and we were laughing. Steve was like, ‘No matter what happens, this is what you’ll take with you. This.’ And he pointed at the two of us. He was so right.”

“Jenna is my life anchor because it’s like, the world doesn’t make sense until I can bounce it off her, whatever happens,” says Kinsey. “The big things, the small things. Once I tell it to her, I’m at peace with it, or I can navigate it.”

Fischer explains that the key to their longstanding friendship is “listening.”

“You just need that person who makes you feel seen and heard. That person who helps you process even little decisions when you’re standing in Target. Who do you call to tell you if you need another throw pillow or not, you know?” she jokes.

[From People]

This is one of those things that I never thought about, but Jenna is exactly right. I wouldn’t have guessed that my closest friendships would all be formed in my late 30s early 40 and yet, they were. Even my husband was 30 when we met and I was about to be the same. Jenna and Angela were in their early 30s when The Office premiered. It sounds like they were obviously well paired as BFFs in general. But I imagine the shared experience of having their lives blow up with the popularity of the show helped solidify their bond. Not to mention they had other life experiences during the show, like babies, divorces (remember Jenna’s first husband was James Gunn?!), etc. I think forming friendships as adults has a lot to do with how we change as people. I’m definitely not the same person I was in my early 20s. I don’t even think 33-year-old me would be friends with 22-year-old me. I love that Jenna and Angela found each other and they’ve only gotten closer. A truly good friend is such a treasure.

As the article mentioned, Jenna and Angela’s Office Ladies podcast just won the iHeartRadio Podcast of the Year award. This was some much need good news, especially for Angela, whose entire family – herself, her husband, daughter and stepsons all got COVID over the holidays. After she’d been diagnosed, she got the call from Texas that her 82-year-old mother was in the hospital with the virus and Angela couldn’t fly to her due to her own condition. Fortunately everyone recovered, although it was a hard recovery, she said. But Angela said it made her “prioritize her own value.” I’ll bet Jenna was at the top of Angela’s priority list too. I know my closest friends have moved so far up my list now.

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