forbidden - chris beck

Chapter 16

"You're kidding, right?" I looked at him in shock.

He gave the door one last shove and attempted to re enter the code but nothing happened.
"Unfortunately, no."

"Should we tell Lewis?" I asked hesitantly, knowing that she might be a little angry that we broke the door even more.

"I think we have to." He ran his hand through his hair.

Beck spoke through his earpiece to Lewis explaining the situation. Once he did so, he turned to face me.

"She surprisingly took it well. She's sending Vogel down."

"Good." I nodded and tried to stay calm. Although I was used to tight spaces, the airlock was not the safest place to be, especially without any equipment  on. However, our spare supply of EVA suits were stacked neatly against the wall so there were some measures of safety. Also, it was starting to feel a little cramped, especially with Beck in there with me. The whole situation just made me nervous.

"You okay?" Beck asked.

"Yeah, it's just a little small in here." I nervously bit my lip as I looked around at the enclosed space.

"I thought small spaces didn't bother you."

"They don't. It's just this particular small space."

"Because I'm here." He looked down at me, a smirk spread across his lips.

"What? ... No." That was a lie. I didn't want to admit it at the time, but his presence in that tiny little space with me made me incredibly nervous.

He looked amused and was about to say something back when Vogel spoke though our earpieces.

"I'm here." He spoke. After a few seconds we heard him laughing as he said, "Only two idiots could manage to do this." 

"It's not funny Vogel." I tried to maintain seriousness.

"Can you fix it, bud?" Beck asked him.

"Ja, but it will take a while." Vogel replied through the ear piece.

"Just get us out, however long it takes." Beck spoke back.

"I'm on it." Vogel replied as Beck turned off his ear piece.

Beck faced me with his arms crossed, making it impossible for me not to stare at his huge arm muscles. "Might wanna get comfortable, we're gonna be here for a while."

~ 30 minutes later ~

"I'm starving." I groaned as I lay across the floor of the airlock. I looked up at beck who sat leaning against the wall with his long legs outstretched.

"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Chris." I looked up to see a smirking Beck.

"Shut up." I whined, trying my hardest to keep a smile off my face.

"You guys really messed this door up." We heard Vogel's voice in our ear pieces.

"Roughly how long?" I replied.

"Another hour or so."

I groaned in response. That was not the kind of answer I wanted to hear.

"Ah, C'mon. It's not that bad." Beck said looking down at me. "Do you know how many guys would kill to be in my position? Being trapped in an airlock with sexy astronaut Ava Collins is the fantasy of most nerdy boys right now."

I shook my head in response. "Always a charmer, Beck." I smiled sarcastically at him as he shot a childish grin back.

"I'm serious. When you get home you'll have a line of men waiting outside your door."

"Well how about you? Mr doctor and Mr astronaut. You're the whole package. Smart and cute." I said truthfully. Any girl would be lucky to have Beck.

He chuckled and rolled up the sleeves of his jumper half way. After a moment of comfortable silence, Beck spoke up again.

"So you think I'm cute huh?"

I immediately blushed and replied, "I guess many girls would think so, yes." I said without making eye contact.

"I don't care about what 'many girls' think. I want to know what you think". His lips curved up into a bigger smile. I could tell he was enjoying this.

"Doesn't matter what I think." I grinned back at him before we fell into another comfortable silence.

~ 26 minutes later ~

We decided to stretch our legs a little and Vogel said he should be done soon, so we took small paces around the airlock.

I stopped next to the opposite door which led straight outside. For some reason I started to read the safety precautions that were labelled on the door. It was probably just about the most entertaining thing to do in there.

It wasn't until I felt Beck's presence next to me that a thought came to mind.

"Do you ever wonder why you did it? Did all this? I mean, we're two of the youngest crew mates. We have our whole lives ahead of us and we're putting it in danger." My eyes trailed over the writing, but I felt him looking directly at me.

"Of course, but were astronauts. We knew what we signed up for. I hate to burst your bubble but it's a little too late to be having cold feet." He chuckled.

I let out a small laugh and turned to face him, only to find him say standing inches away from me.

"I'm not getting cold feet. It's just... I ask myself sometimes whether I'm doing the right thing. Today we're stuck in an airlock, tomorrow we could be locked outside. I know I'm prepared for these kind of things to happen. But is it worth it?"

"Trust me. It's worth it." He stepped a little closer, leaving almost no space between us.

Butterflies swarmed in my stomach when he looked down at my lips.

He whispered, "This is all worth the risk."

~ To be continued ~