forbidden - chris beck

Chapter 26

"So talk." He said as he outstretched his long legs and crossed one ankle over the other.

"I - It just doesn't feel right." I slowly leaned down until I was lying next to him. I stared up at the ceiling as I spoke, but I felt his eyes focused on me.

"Watney should be here, not me. Why did I get rescued and not..." At this point, it was inevitable for me not to tear up again.

"Listen," Beck turned on his side and leaned his head on his hand as he looked down at me.
"None of us had a choice. Neither your's nor Watney's radar was showing up. But then yours did."

He brought his fingers down to my cheek and wiped away one of my tears gently.

"If we waited any longer, we'd all still be there. Probably dead." He continued, "I couldn't leave you." His voice laced with emotion.

"But-"

"You're here. You're alive. That's all that matters...to the crew." I couldn't help but look down at his perfect pink lips as he spoke, since they were so incredibly close to mine.

Seeing as his attention was focused on me, he seemed to notice, but I spoke once more to avoid anything from happening.

"Well... Thank you." I said sincerely. I never imagined that someone would ever risk their life for me.

"That's ok." He gave a small smile. "You'll just be forever in my debt."

We both chucked quietly, cautious of the fact that someone might hear us. His body, next to mine, radiated a comforting warmth. So comforting in fact, that I couldn't keep my eyes open.

After a few moments of hearing his soft breathing, I allowed myself to drift off into one of the best sleeps I had in a long time.

~

By morning, I awoke with a smile on my face. Last night was the perfect ending to a horrible day. I was surprised how he'd managed to leave so quietly, I always thought I was a light sleeper.

I heard the usual call of Commander Lewis outside, tapping each of our doors awake before she set off on her duties of the day.

With a sigh, I turned in my bed and sucked in a breath at the feel of a heavy weight on my stomach.

I turned to find Beck sleeping next to me, his face sunken into the pillow and his arm heavily draped across me.

"Oh no." I muttered as I heard the muffling voices outside.

"Beck!" I exclaimed in a hushed voice. I managed to shove his arm off me and sit up.

My heart began racing insanely fast. If we got caught like this, we would never hear the end of it.

I began frantically shaking his shoulder, but he just let out a groan. So I grabbed my pillow and started hitting him on the head with it. At this point, I was sweating with fear. The crew must have realised that we weren't waking up.

"What's the big deal?" He mumbled into his pillow squinting one eye open to look at me.

"You're in my bunk and it's morning!" I whisper yelled at him.

At this, both of his eyes opened as he looked around at our surroundings in the small confinement. "Ok, that is a big deal." He nodded and sat up, his expression matching my panicked one.

"What are we gonna do? We can't be seen coming out of here together. They'll suspect... we did something." I bit my lip nervously.

"Hey, calm down." He placed his hand on my shoulder comfortingly. "You get our first, and I'll come out a few minutes later. You tell me when the coast is clear and no one will see a thing."

A hundred thoughts ran through my head over how horribly wrong this could go.

"Fine." I huffed. If there was one thing I hated, it was being a slave to secrecy.

I climbed over to the door hatch. After slowly sliding it open, trying not to make any noise, I stepped out onto the cold floor noticing that all the bunks were open apart from Beck's and mine. After hearing him slide the door closed behind me, fortunately I noticed there was no one in sight.

That was until I heard the bathroom door click open. Martinez stepped out waving his hand around in the air.

"I wouldn't go in there for a while." He scrunched his nose at me and then started in the direction of the control room.

I thought for a second that this morning couldn't get any worse. That was until he backed in his tracks and said, "Oh, almost forgot. Lewis was looking for you, and Beck. You know how she is, doesn't like late starts."

I gulped, "Tell her I'll be there."

"Is he still asleep?" He chuckled and looked over at Beck's closed bunk.

"Uh, yeah. He had a rough night. We all did."

I could tell by Martinez's eyes that he had been perhaps upset too last night. Though I suppose it would have made him inhuman not to grieve our crew mate.

"I should probably wake him up though. Lewis will be pissed if he stays asleep any longer." He said as he approached Beck's bunk.

I inwardly began to panic, digging my nails into the palms of my hands, knowing that Beck was impatiently waiting in my bed.

"Um, I can do it." I blurted out. For a second he seemed to register my suspicious actions, but he soon shook it off.

"Okay then." He awkwardly smiled as he backed away and headed back to the control room. "I'll tell her you're getting ready." He called over his shoulder.

Once he was out of sight, I rushed over to my bunk and slid the door open. "That was a close one." Beck remarked.

"Yeah no kidding." I held my hand up to my forehead to contain the pounding headache that was coming on.

He stepped out and stretched with a stupid grin on his face while walking over to his own bunk to get his new clothes. "Well on the bright side, that was one of the best sleeps I ever had."