It was a calm evening. Work had all been done, one of Vogel's soft records were playing in the background and overall the crew were pretty happy.
Martinez was in his bunk across from me, earphones in, watching one of his beloved TV series with a name I cannot pronounce. Beck was in his bunk above him replying to a few emails. Vogel, Watney and Lewis were enjoying a cup of something hot around the table in the bunk room and I joined Johanssen on her bunk as we played a very long game of cards. Like I said, things were good.
But hey, this was Hermes. Things didn't stay quiet for long.
A notification bleep came from the direction of the control room, which usually signalled an important message from NASA.
Lewis placed her mug down to get up and check, but Watney motioned for her to sit down. "I'll check it." He smiled warmly at her, and she nodded thankfully.
I bit my lip in concentration at the deck of cards in my hands. Smart move Johanssen, smart move.
"What did it say?" Martinez asked Wateny as he strolled back into the room. At this we all looked up to listen.
"So on NASA's latest virtual tour check up thingy on the ship, they noticed that everything looked good, but they didn't like the sight of our bunks."
NASA did these frequent checks on the condition of our living to make sure we were keeping everything clean. Problem is, we tended to clean everything but our bunks. They were each cluttered in their own beautiful ways. Food packets, random papers, personal belongings and other weird objects.
Lewis stood up and brushed off her trousers.
"Looks like we're in for a clean up this evening." She smiled at us all as she made her way over to her bunk, taking out a few of her Abba records and placing them on the side.
"I figured this day would come." Martinez looked over miserably at his bunk.
After a few seconds, the entire crew were up on their feet.
"Try and put as much personal belongings back into your boxes." Lewis called.
I small sigh escaped my lips as I glanced at the books and random cables sprawled across my bed. There is no way I would sleep like this at home, I thought while taking out all the wrappers and putting them in the bin. Next I got the crate with my name on it and pulled it over next to my bunk.
"I found my lucky pen!" Vogel shouted as he looked under his mattress.
I on the other hand, lifted my mattress to find a hell of a lot more than just a pen. This was going to take a while.
~
After an hour or so, Lewis and Vogel were the first to finish and I was next. My bunk surprisingly looked tidy for once.
I placed my hands on my hips and stood back to admire my tidiness.
"How'd you finish so fast?" Johanssen mumbled as she sat crossed legged on the floor, playing with her old Nintendo she found behind her bed.
"Because I didn't get distracted." I said looking down at her still messy bed.
"I have so much crap in here it's unreal." Watney groaned while creaking into his bunk.
"You guys brought a lot of interesting stuff with you to space." I said, noticing the various assortments in the crates on the floor.
"Had to bring the Star Wars collection of course." Watney put the movies away.
Beck seemed to be flustered by putting away his things so he slid his jumper over his head leaving him in his dark blue t-shirt. It took all of the courage I had not to stand and stare.
"Are you okay Beck?" I asked as he looked a little frustrated while cleaning up.
"Yeah." He turned and smiled to me. "I just didn't realise how much crap I had."
He continued to chuck things out of his bunk into a pile on the floor which I presumed was for the garbage.
"Why did you bring this old baseball cap?" I picked up a tattered looking cap that was fading in colour and looked like it had been through hell and back.
"That was mine when I was a boy and my dad used to take me to baseball game. Ever since its kind of stuck with me."
I dusted it off a little from the top and placed it on my head.
"I like it." I nodded as I fixed it onto my head.
Beck turned around to face me. He crossed his arms, shook his head and just smiled.
"What?" I asked in confusion. Did it make me look ridiculous or something?
"How is it that you manage to look beautiful even in that thing?"
"Uh..." I smiled nervously, unsure of how to reply. Why is it that he always made me blush? It's so embarrassing.
I quickly took it off. "Here, it probably looks better on you."
I stepped closer to him, reached up and placed the cap firmly on his head.
"There, much better." His blue eyes pierced into my caramel ones. There was something about him with a cap on that made him look even more dashing than usual.
I hadn't realised that our faces were inches apart until Watney cursed after stubbing his toe on the edge of his bunk, making the both of us move away from each other's gazes.
I wish I could stop having these awkward encounters with Beck. I don't know what came over me but in that moment I wanted nothing more than to be closer to him.
He was a major distraction, and there was no way of removing him.