It was Lydia's
sixteenth birthday in two days.
But instead of worrying
what to buy for her, Beetlejuice's mind was on other things.
One particular memory had been plaguing him.
---
It was when Lydia was still twelve, and after a long day of pulling pranks on the Monster across the street she had gone back to the real world. Beetlejuice remembered it clearly - waving goodbye to her and looking forward to tomorrow's games, and when the door to the real world had closed he'd taken a deep breath of the night air, snatched a passing bug and chewed it happily.
Jacques and Ginger were
waiting at the front door when he faced the Roadhouse.
"Be-atlejuice…can
we talk to you for a moment, ma friend?" Jacques began awkwardly.
"Sure, whatever,"
Beetlejuice said with his usual grin, disguising his unease. It
wasn't like them to try and make him be serious.
The three sat down in
the living room of the Roadhouse.
"Well, you know how
old Lydia is, right?" Ginger said.
"Yeah…"
"And 'ow ze
children, zey change at zis age."
"So what?"
"We just…well…we
wanted to warn you that Lydia isn't gonna be a little kid forever,
you know?" Ginger mumbled.
"When she starts to
change, you need to give 'er space!" Jacques nodded.
"And she's gonna be
more interested in boys and make up and clothes and stuff!"
Beetlejuice looked
disgusted. Lydia? Boys? Make up?
"Your disgusting
pranks won't amuse her when she is grown up, mon amis."
The spider and skeleton
went on at him for what seemed like hours; but for once, Beetlejuice
took it seriously all on his own.
And when they were
done, Beetlejuice went to his coffin and lay there, their words
echoing around his head.
"Beej, you look
awful," Lydia commented the next day. He hadn't slept at all.
"Why thank you,
Babes!" Beetlejuice replied with a cackle, even though Jacques and
Ginger's words were still all he could think about.
But then Lydia smiled
up at him innocently, and he couldn't resist giving her a
possessive hug.
Well, everyone has to
grow up one day, he thought.
But not today.
---
He held a tiny, striped
box in his dirty hands - he knew Lydia wouldn't be too fussed if
the outside was a bit messy.
"So long as the
present inside is clean," he laughed weakly, straightening the
ribbon wrapped around it.
Though he tried to hide
it, Ginger could see that Beetlejuice was worried; and Ginger was
sure that, the way he kept sitting in the middle of the room just
holding the tiny present, it was about Lydia.
"What's up?" she
smiled widely, dangling in front of him. She didn't really expect
an honest answer. Which is why she fell off her spider string when he
took a deep sigh and mumbled "Lyds".
"I knew it!"
grinned Ginger, picking herself up again. "What about her?"
"You remember when
you told me she was gonna change?"
"Sure," nodded the
spider.
"Well…she hasn't.
She still loves my pranks, she's still obsessed with photography,
she still wears that red cape, her hair is the same (well, maybe a
little longer, you know what I mean?), and…yeah."
Ginger scratched her
head.
"But…isn't that a
good thing for you?"
"No!" he snapped
back, "'Cause the older she gets the more inevitable it gets! She
never talks about boys, she doesn't go on about make up and
clothes, she doesn't go partying with her friends, she doesn't
like going to the mall, or anything like that! But she's gonna
change one day and it just gets closer and closer and closer and
closer and…" he paused for breath.
"Well…maybe she
just doesn't talk about that stuff with you?" she suggested.
"But best friends
tell each other everything!" he retorted angrily.
Ginger was glad when Jacques came into the room - she didn't really know what to say.
---
Beetlejuice stared at the lid of his coffin. In just a few hours, Lydia would be sixteen, and he had to put on a happy face for her.
But his mind was racing, trying to think of times Lydia had mentioned boys or boyfriends or make up or any of that teenager stuff he despised so much. He remembered her talking about Bertha's boyfriend, and Prudence's admirer; he remembered various Neitherworld citizens proposing to her (that damn Prince Vince!), and the time when Ginger and Lydia had gone shoe shopping together at one of the Neitherworld's more upmarket malls. But for the real world - nothing.
"Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!"
He suddenly found himself lying on Lydia's carpet.
"Babes, it's two in
the morning. Shouldn't you be asleep?" he said, pretending to
sound sleepy.
She came and stood over
him silently. He looked up at her. Despite the darkness, he could see
that her eyes were puffy and red.
"Babes?" he
whispered, sitting up quickly. She sniffed.
In one movement he
stood up and scooped Lydia into his arms. He carried her back to the
bed and sat her down gently, placing himself next to her. "Lydia?"
When she didn't
answer, he frowned.
"Who upset you? Tell
me! I'll get 'em for you Babes!" he growled.
"No, Beej," she
whispered, and leant her head on his shoulder. He put his arms around
her protectively.
"I don't want to be
sixteen," she sighed.
"Know what?" he
grinned down at her. "I don't want you to be sixteen either."
"Oh?" she smiled
weakly. He blushed, not sure what to say next.
"Beej…I'm not
happy in the real world. Bertha and Prudence just talk about make up
and boys and shopping and they don't have time for me anymore. And
then there's Delia, she's always trying to get me to go on dates
with her rich friends' sons. And…and even my dad! He's all 'You
can't live off photography, why won't you look at the future
realistically?' and then…and…"
"And you just wanna
be you?"
"Exactly!" Lydia
began to sob into his shoulder. He pulled her closer to him.
"I like you just the way you are, Lyds," he whispered, "and…I get scared when I think about you growing up and stuff…I don't wanna lose my best friend. The afterlife would be pretty boring without you…"
She looked up at him.
"The older I get, the
more time I spend in the Neitherworld - more than in the real world,
BJ. You won't lose me," she smiled.
He grinned, feeling
reassured.
"Hey, it's nearly 3am! You're gonna be sixteen in a minute!" he pointed at Lydia's clock, "gimme a sec!"
Beetlejuice scrambled into Lydia's mirror. She watched him, feeling a bit lost and confused, but just as suddenly he tumbled out the mirror again, holding a tiny box with black and white stripes and a black bow.
"Happy birthday,
Lyds!" he smiled and held the box out to her.
"Can I open it now?"
she giggled, taking the box.
"Well it is three
now, that makes you a sixteen."
She pulled the bow off
and opened the box.
Inside was a tiny,
plain, gold ring. "It's so pretty…" she said quietly, a
little surprised.
"Wait! Don't put it
on yet!" He snatched it from her, and she looked at him with a
bewildered expression. "It's not just any old ring you know."
"Is it magic?"
interrupted Lydia.
"No. Even more
special. It's a promise ring!" he said proudly. "So as long as
you wear it, you have to keep a promise with me."
"You know I always
keep my promises," laughed Lydia, "unlike you!"
"Shh. It's a
promise that we'll always be best friends. Do you promise?"
"Forever and ever!"
she beamed, and he slipped the ring onto her finger.
That same innocent smile from four years ago. He held her possessively and she laughed into his shoulder.
Forever and ever…he trusted that.
a/n - eep, my first beetlejuice fanfiction o: lydia and beetlejuice are my favourite pairing ever but i guess you can take this one whichever way you want, really. i don't own either of them!
