(Here's Chapter Two!)
Looking behind her to make sure no one was watching, she slowly opened the door. As soon as the door was open a huge gust of wind wrapped around her and drug her in, screaming in surprise. Before she knew it she landed roughly on what felt like cobblestone. Shaking her head, Lydia looked up to see a bunch of ghosts and random beasts bustling about her, some were even holding shopping bags. Lydia blinked. She didn't know where she was but at least she was the hell out of his house. Standing up, She began to run down the street, trying to get as far away from him as possible.
She ran, confused, angry and upset, trying to ignore as much of her surroundings as possible.
What was worse then the capricious attitude that Beetlejuice held toward her was the fact that she didn't understand why she even cared what he thought of her. She should just want to get the hell away from here and from him, and she did, but at the same time part of her didn't want to do it this way. She would never admit it to Beetlejuice, or anyone else for that matter, but just running away like this made her feel the smallest bit guilty, as bizarre as the thought seemed to her. Why in the world should she feel guilty about running away from that asshole? If anyone should be feeling guilty it should be Beetlejuice.
BEETLEJUICE! Recognition hit her, just before she hit him, running full speed and knocking them both to the floor, his bags and most of a display case falling to the floor in a tumble.
"EEP!" She squeaked as she immediately got up and began running. She didn't know where she was going but she was certainly going there as fast as her long, legs would take her!
"What? Huh? How-She-Run-Bags-Girl-Supposed-Cleaning-House… DAMN THAT DOOR!" Beetlejuice stammered before turning to give chase.
"GET BACK HERE!" He snapped as he flew after her.
"NO! NO! NO!" She screamed, trying to run faster.
Beetlejuice flew right up behind her, reaching for her.
"THAT IS SO NOT FAIR!" She screamed as she dodged and skid to the right, causing him to fly right into a pole, splitting him into two halves.
"Oh, pull yourself together man." He grunted, fusing back into his normal self as he took off after her once more.
Sensing him hot on her trail, Lydia began running for the woods that she had just spotted.
"Baaaaaaabes!" Beetlejuice wined behind her.
Gasping, Lydia hid behind a large tree, covering her mouth, hoping he would not here her.
A couple minutes went by and he still had not spotted her, but she could still hear him. Backing up closer to the tree, hoping that would somehow keep her safe. As soon as she touched the tree it moved.
"What the heck do you think you're doing Miss?" The tree spoke, looking at her with as it raised piece of bark she supposed was his eyebrow.
"SH!" She hissed.
The tree tilted as if it was cocking it's head to reveal Beetlejuice glaring at her.
"Uh oh…" She mumbled before running again.
She didn't get very far though before his long fingers had wrapped themselves around her wrist.
"LET ME GO!" She screamed.
Beetlejuice jerked her backwards so that she fell onto her behind. Growling, Lydia pulled him down as well, shocking him. While he was down, Lydia jumped to her feet and began to run but then went back, stomped on his "Ahem" parts, then ran off again.
Beetlejuice laid on the ground, rolling in pain his hands on his bruised crotch.
"You
ok there buddy?" Asked the tree in a woody voice.
"no."
Squeaked Beetlejuice, his voice several octaves higher then
normal.
"Oh… Well you want some wood?"
"Oh, god no… I don't want to even think about that right now." Squeaked Beetlejuice, earning himself a confused look from the tree who didn't understand.
Oh that little… Beetlejuice thought to himself, now that the blinding pain had lessened to a dull ache. Oh she was so going to pay for that indignity, she was going to pay dearly! He would keep her locked up for a week! A month! The ache intensified, causing Beetlejuice to roll again, moaning loudly.
Forget that, for this he was going to lock her in a room full of sandworms for forever! He shivered… uuugh. Sandworms. He twitched at the thought.
"Come
on-- Cough Come on now, Beetlejuice,
you're the ghost with the most! Cant let a little girl beat you
up." He said to himself.
"So you don't want any wood?" The
tree asked again, lowering a dying branch to show to Beetlejuice.
"Cuz, I've been working on this nice one here I have. You could
use it as a walking stick or a --"
"Can it Timber-boy, I'll
take that off your… well I'll take it, now that you offer it… I
know just how to use it too."
Lydia ran frantically through the woods, hoping that Beetlejuice was enjoying her parting gift. She was so focused on putting as much ground between him and her, that she didn't even notice her passing was waking all the trees around her, leaving a trail of open eyes in her wake.
None of the trees were terribly surprised that Beetlejuice (they knew him because he used to go for walks in the woods when he got bored… or needed some firewood) managed to finally catch up with this strange girl in her odd maid outfit. Though they were surprised at the squeaking noise she made when she tripped over the branch he threw in front of her, causing her to fall into his waiting arms.
"Hey there babe, you falling for me already?"
Lydia looked up at him, tears of frustration clouding her eyes though she desperately tried to hide them. Beetlejuice narrowed his eyes at her.
"That was a dirty little stunt you pulled, kid." He hissed. "I told you to stay in the house."
Lydia frowned and started to struggle, trying to free herself. Beetlejuice only tightened his hold on her, pulling her closer which caused her to blush against her will.
"Get off me…" She grumbled, pushing against his chest.
"No, I am going to drag your sorry ass back to the house and you are going to stay there!"
Lydia thrashed, trying to kick at him again.
"I'm not staying! I'll get back out! I swear!"
Beetlejuice shook his head.
"No…because I'm going to get rid of that damn door…and you are going to be locked inside that house until I say so."
Lydia stared at him, eyes wide as the tears came back. She just wanted to go home. Never before had she wanted to see her father and Delia so much.
"Hey now kid, cut the waterworks. If anyone here should be upset it's me… Both for my bruised ego and my bruised… well, you should know what."
Beetlejuice, paused to pull out a sickeningly greenish handkerchief which, despite her cringing at the sight of it, he used to dab her eyes and cheeks with.
"Look, I'll level with ya'. I like ya, and all but I'm not to sure about this marriage stuff myself. Got a reputation as a studly bachelor to maintain you know," He said with a half-kidding leer at her, "but I'm a nice guy, so I'll make a deal with you, assuming you'll keep this one," he added with at look.
"If you can figure out another way of getting me out of this place and back up to the real world for good, I'll let you go. Until then, you, sweet cheeks, are my ticket out of here."
Lydia sighed as she wiped her cheeks.
"First of all…ew…second of all we aren't married…third of all, reputation? Studly bachelor? Ha. Lastly…are you serious? You'll never bother me again?"
She looked at him, her brown eyes softening.
"Hey now, don't look at me like that toots, people will start to think ole' Beetlejuice's gone soft." As if to emphasize his point, she felt a moment of panic as he started to melt into a puddle at her feet. Well a puddle with a face anyway.
Lydia couldn't help the smile that spread across her face as a chuckle came forth.
Despite himself, Beetlejuice smiled back up at her.
"So, how's about's that date?"
Lydia put her hands on her hips.
"No. But I promise to help you." She leaned down, her smile growing into a genuine smile. "But you have to promise me you wont hurt anyone once you're out…and you take me home when this is all said and done."
"Tell
you what. Not only will I make that promise to you, I'll do you one
more."
"What's that?" She hesitantly asked.
"I'll
keep it too." He brazenly goaded, going so far to wink at her as he
reformed into his normal self in front of her.
Lydia stood up and began walking away. Before she got too far, she turned around, a soft smile on her face and even in her eyes.
"I promise to keep it too." She whispered before turning back around, her back to him.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" He asked, somehow in front of her when she turned around, shocking her.
Lydia shrugged, playing to be nonchalant.
"You heard me." With that she grabbed the stupid top hat that he was still wearing from the tuxedo and ran off.
"Oh, you little…" Beetlejuice let the words trail off as he once again gave chase. If nothing else, Lydia was hard to catch.
Lydia, laid on the bed, thinking about how in the world she was going to be able to get Beetlejuice out of the Ghost world. Other then agreeing to marry him, which wasn't going to happen, she laughed, the thought not seeming as ridiculous as she thought it should. The problem was that she didn't know enough about the rules to devise an alternative plan, and she couldn't exactly leave the house to go do research.
She sighed in frustration. Everything told her that she was stuck here until Beetlejuice got back from wherever in the heck he had gone so she could ask him some more questions.
She looked around the room again for the thousandth time. Since she had agreed to help him, Beetlejuice had said that she was allowed to go wherever it was in the house that she liked. Just God help her if he caught her going through random doors, or, apparently, making anything clean. He had nearly scared her to death when he yelled at her for cleaning up the bedroom (which he had let her use by herself, preferring to sleep with his rubbish in the front room, even though he'd made a comment about already having her in his bed) but so far she hadn't been able to find anything that was even remotely of use. Plenty of empty cans though, oddly enough, now that she thought about it, considering that Beetlejuice didn't need to eat or drink. Maybe they were comforting to him, she thought.
Finally rolling over so that her head dangled off the edge of the bed, she noticed that there was an oddly shaped knothole in the floor boards.
"What's this?" she asked of no one in particular, as she crawled over to pull up at the board which slid away easily enough, revealing a box hidden under the floor.
"Huh. Wonder what he's so keen to keep hidden?" She asked, a part of her wanting to leave whatever it was alone, because, well it was rude. But her curiosity vastly out burned her guilt, so up and open came the box, revealing wealth of dusty leather backed tomes.
"Why would he hide books?" She asked again, pulling out a large red book and blowing on its cover to reveal the words "Rules and Regulations" printed on the front of it in golden letters.
"Well this is oddly convenient." She said, putting the book to the side, just as Beetlejuice burst through the door.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" He exclaimed, throwing the box back into the hole and sealing it shut with a hasty motion.
"I don't go through your private stuff do I? I would have thought that you'd be a little more respectable-like then to do a thing like that."
Lydia stared up at him, eyes wavering in shock.
"I-I'm sorry…I didn't know. I was just trying to help…"
"Well if you wanna' help you can either agree to marry me already, or you can find another way out for me."
Lydia stood up, frowning slightly.
"What do you think I was doing? Beej, I don't know anything about this place! For me, any little bit of information could be of help."
Beetlejuice blinked, his mouth opened slightly.
"Wh-what did you just call me?" He asked, shocked at the oddly sweet nickname that she had called him.
Lydia blinked.
"Well…I…Beej? Do you not like that? What am I supposed to call you? Thanks to you I can't call you the B-word."
"Hey don't you go blaming all your problems on me now. You got yourself-and me- into this mess and you can get us out of it. But if you wanna call me Beej, that'll work I guess. I wouldn't want you to call me 'Juice' anyways, I'm not that scary." He shivered a the thought.
Lydia grinned playfully.
"How's 'Asshole'?"
"How's sleeping in pit of sandworms tonight?" He asked in the same smart-alec tone she used to him.
Lydia walked up to him and patted his shoulder, something that he wasn't expecting.
"No thanks. I already told you I wasn't sleeping with you."
Despite his attempt at keeping a good nature about things, at this his eyes narrowed.
"Oh really? Because here I was thinking that tonight I might finally give you what you've been longing for."
He drew himself up, posing for her in what he thought was a macho pose, flexing his muscles but seeming hilariously incongruent considering his tattered attire.
"It's ok to want it toots, there's plenty to go around." He leered at her, his grin making her cringe. "And if you're really nice to me, there might just be enough left for you when I get back too."
Lydia raised an eyebrow, smiling playfully, enjoying this game despite what she told herself.
"I'm swooning." She said sarcastically. "Sorry to inform you Beej, but the boys in my class are better than you."
"Yeah?" He asked incredibly, "Betcha' none of them are have the stud muffin I am." He said, turning into a giant muffin with a bull's head and neck sticking out of it.
Lydia blinked.
"Nope, I have to say…" She goaded. "They're much better looking.
Lydia grinned, hoping she was getting to him. "And they have great bodies…and they smell really good too."
"Oh, well then, I guess I have nothing to worry about then do I? You admit I'm better."
Lydia shook her head.
"No Beej, I like THEM better." She goaded, grinning at him through her eyelashes.
"Ya' what?" He said, confusion evident on his face.
Lydia faked to look up dreamily. "Yea…there's one in particular that I happen to be very fond of." She lied through her teeth.
"Huh. What he's got that I don't?"
Lydia looked up at him, not knowing she would later regret what she would say next.
" A heartbeat, for one."
Beetlejuice, despite himself, looked honestly crestfallen, his pride shattering visibly.
"A heartbeat… who'd want one of those anyway. Useless things hearts." His voice and body deflating as he turned to leave the room. "Glad I don't have one anymore." His tone belying the words.
"They aren't useless…with a heart you can love…no one has loved me before, and I want someone to. And I know someone with a heart could." Lydia looked away sadly. "I just hope I find him."
Lydia was surprised she had confided that to anyone, let alone Beetlejuice. But she had felt so bad about what she had said she felt she should say something to make him feel better, though she wasn't quite sure why she thought that would.
Beetlejuice looked at her sadly, before turning to leave her alone, his head hung low.
If she wanted someone with a heartbeat, let alone a heart, that left him out now didn't it, he thought dejectedly. Again, he didn't know why he cared, but part of him was hoping when he finally got married that, just maybe, he might find out what this love thing was that everyone kept going on about was, and now he was sure that would never happen with Lydia, but he wanted to get out of this place more then anything else, and if that was the way things went, then that's just how the cookie crumbles. Besides, he thought, there's other fish out there, right? Surely he could find someone who wasn't so choosy, especially about a silly thing like love or a heartbeat.
"Right?" he asked the air around him, his head in his hands, looking out onto the road from his porch.
(I love their little "arguments", they make me giggle. :-D And the trees, love the trees.)
