forbidden - chris beck

Chapter 19

It was day 112 here on Hermes. That meant only 8 days to intercept on Mars, so the crew had been extremely busy. We spent the last week preparing our equipment, doing a lot of practice drills and making sure that everyone knew their positions.

So after the incident in the not so romantic closet with Beck, we didn't really get a chance to speak. Everyone had just been so extremely busy that time flew faster than I expected.

This day was no different. I was running through the landing figures with Johansson once more. She read out the numbers and I gave her the correct calculations to go along with it. Not the most interesting job to do in space. But thankfully I got to do it with her, so the occasional conversation made time go quicker.

"You spoke to Beck yet?" She said as she typed.

"No, I honestly haven't had the chance." I pencilled in a rough calculation into my notebook. "Besides, what would I even say?" I rubbed out my work in frustration. I can't do math and think about him at the same time. It's a logical impossibility.

"Uh, how about... 'I want to smooch with you all day long but there's no time and we're not really allowed.' " She imitated a high pitched voice.

"I don't talk like that!" I exclaimed in a hushed voice as a my cheeks heated up slightly. "I can't do this one Beth." I whined, my exhaustion kicking in.

"Let me look." I handed her my notebook. "I don't understand these velocity ones. I usually give them to you." She looked at it with a blank face.

"I think I did something wrong. I can't seem to think straight recently." I leaned my head into my hands on the table.

"Maybe you've miscalculated the... Oh look, there's Beck. Go ask him."

I turned to see where she was looking and Beck was indeed walking past, before turning back to face her in disbelief. "No way."

"You're gonna have to start acting normal around him before the rest of them suspect something." She started pushing me off the chair.

"But...I..." I tried to object but Beck noticed her pushing me to which she quickly stopped. I took the opportunity to stop acting like a little girl and  I walked up to him in the hallway.

"Hi." I smiled sheepishly as I stood in front of him.

"Hey." He said back with his killer smile.

"Can you help me with this." I passed him my notebook with the page open on the calculation. "I can't figure out the average velocity speed. It think I might have missed something."

"Yeah," His eyebrows furrowed as he looked down at the book. His blue eyes met mine, "You got a pencil?"

After giving him the pencil in my hand, I noticed his grey shirt was drenched in a black liquid.

"What's on your shirt?' I scrunched nose, the smell getting to me.

Beck looked down at it and then back up to the notebook. "I just finished up work on the generators. The grease was practically leaking."

"Oh." I nodded and smiled before looking around awkwardly, unsure of how to fill the awkward silence.

His blue eyes glanced up from the book as a small smile spread across his lips. "You okay there?"

"Yeah." I nodded and bit my lip.

He just chuckled at me and shook his head before writing inside the notebook and handing it back to me. "Small miscalculation. It's right now."

"Thank you." I sighed in relief, taking the book and pencil into my hand.

"Don't I deserve a hug." He outstretched his arms with the biggest mischievous grin on his face.

My eyes averted down to his stained shirt and I immediately started backing away. "No way."

"Ah, C'mon Collins." He stepped closer. "Just one."

"Beck, don't you dare-"

I was interrupted as his arms engulfed me, my body tightly pressed against his, feeling the liquid sink into my own shirt.

His laughter filled the hallway as he loosened my grasp, making it difficult for me to resist a smile.

"Let's go get cleaned up." He held my hand and we walked in the direction of our bunks.

"Jerk." I mumbled, earning a short laugh from him.

Beck walked to his bunk allowing me to go to mine, opposite his. Without warning, he slipped off his shirt revealing his muscular build. I knew there was something good under that shirt. When he caught me looking he winked and pulled on his new shirt.

"I promise I won't look." He turned to face his bunk away from me.

Taking the opportunity, I turned away from him and speedily slipped off my shirt before putting a new one on. "Done."

To my surprise, I felt his hands snake around my waist from behind he leaned down next to my ear and pressed  a small kiss against my cheek.

I heard a familiar sound. The sound of Commander Lewis clearing her throat. My heart jumped in my chest as Beck immediately pulled away from me, also looking in the direction of the doorway where she was standing.

But it was too late.

"Collins. Beck. A word." She spoke sternly before turning on her heel and walking down the hall, motioning for us to follow.