Crashing In To You ( Freen x Becky)

Chapter 11

Nuch was awake and sitting by the smouldering fire when Becky and Freen returned to their camp. He looked up from feeding the fire with sticks to grin at them. "Well, look what the cat dragged in... You two must have been up early... or late."

Freen glared at him as Becky sheepishly rubbed at the back of her neck. Nuch ignored his sister and kept pressing. "I've been awake at least an hour and you two were already gone."

"We were watching the sunrise, phi..." Becky said, a deep blush colouring her cheeks.

"How romantic..." Nuch said, his grin morphing in to a smirk. Between the wry comment and the smug smile, Becky could see the resemblance to his twin — beyond their dark hair and striking good looks. Becky flushed, her cheeks growing hotter.

"I, uh... I'm going to go change. See you in a bit." She flashed a sheepish smile at Freen before disappearing in to the wreckage of the plane to change out of the clothes she'd been wearing for two days straight.

Freen waited until they were alone to round on her brother, slapping him around the ear. "What the fuck, phi? That was so rude!"

"It wasn't rude, nu!" Nuch scoffed. "I was just stating the obvious. A morning stroll to watch the sunrise is very romantic... and there's clearly something going on between you two."

"Nothing is going on between us." Freen lied.

Nuch rolled his eyes at her. His twin was an open book to him — one with well-worn pages and a crease down the spine. "Whatever. She's cute."

Freen bit the inside of her cheek as she took a seat beside him on the log he was sitting on. "She is." Freen agreed, matching her brother's smirk. It faltered as she glanced at the fuselage where the others were sleeping. "Don't tell Heng."

"Please, I'm not a sadist! The poor guy's pride has been hurt enough!"

Freen frowned. "That's not fair, phi! I didn't love him anymore, and... and I didn't want to hurt him by stringing him along. He deserved better than that... Better than me."

"There's no better than you, nuu." Nuch pressed a kiss to her forehead. "That's why he's hurting so much... but nong Beck seems nice. Plus she's tiny! If she hurts you it'll be easy to kick her ass-"

"P'Nuch!" Freen slapped her twin around the head again, biting back a smile.

Becky came back out of the plane wearing a clean pair of board shorts and another tank top, she'd ditched her shoes and swapped them for flip-flops. Freen did her best not to let her eyes linger on the other girl's bare arms and legs.

Later, the trio were laughing as Nuch recounted a story about six-year-old Freen trying to adopt a baby rat - which she mistook for a hamster- when Heng stepped out of the plane and joined them by the fire. Freen fell quiet, guilt washing over her in waves as Heng took in how close she and Becky were sitting. She unconsciously shuffled away, putting some distance between them.

"Hey Hengky, what's up na?" Nuch greeted him, trying to quell the growing tension in the air.

"Hey..." Heng replied with a nod, and - despite Nuch's best efforts - an awkward silence fell over the group.

For once Nuch was at a loss for something to say, so he went back to poking at the fire with a stick while Freen looked like she'd rather be anywhere else. The uneasy silence continued until Charlotte and Engfa came out of the plane to join them.

"Ugh, I can't believe I had to sleep next to FatFa! Her fat ass took up nearly the whole seat!" Charlotte grumbled as she took a seat on the log opposite Becky and Freen's.