A Deal's a Deal
Lydia's muscles instantly relaxed as the steam from the how water filled the room. She took off her nightgown and stared at her body in her mirror, examining her current condition in disgust. She tried remembering how she looked when she last saw Beetlejuice. She was sixteen back then, and her hair was much shorter and better-kept. She was still in that boarding school, which she couldn't stand. Lydia was always skinny, but she noticed that she was definitely thinner than she was back then. There were slight bags under her eyes as well as some redness that still resided from the night before. Have I changed that much? Her mind was wondering to what Beetlejuice whispered a moment before. If anything, he's changed! The only way he'd help anyone is out of personal gain. What does he get for helping me? She frowned at her reflection and turned to her shower. Her personal disgust at her body was unbearable.
The shampoo felt refreshing as she scrubbed it through her hair. When it was wet, it passed her breasts and just barely hit the middle of her back. She decided to grow it out because it made her look older, she thought. A few deep breathes came from her as hot water ran down her pale skin. What was she going to do? Could she even remotely trust Beetlejuice? After what he did to her family and to the Maitlands, she wasn't so sure. But ever since those incidents, something nipped at her. As much as she despised Beetlejuice then, she also felt that deep down, he may have not been so bad. Barbara and Adam told her countless times how Juno categorized him as a troublemaker and that no one they encountered has kind words to say about him. Why did he want to get out of the underworld so badly? Suddenly, the thought of the red wedding gown he made her wore popped into her head and she shuddered.
The sweet scent of vanilla mixed with lavender filled her nostrils as she lathered herself with bodywash. It was difficult trying to figure out what to do. Her curiosity was getting the best of her. Maybe she should tell him what was upsetting her. He could help her out, then she could find out more about him and see what made him tick. She barely knew anything about him, outside the fact that he died after the black plague. Lydia smiled a little as a plan formulated in her head.
"How much longer ya gonna be? You didn't drown in there did ya? Juno would have my head for that." Beetlejuice's voice was awfully close. Lydia froze for a second before slowly pulling back her shower curtain to see Beetlejuice standing with a towel in his hand, grinning at her. She shrieked in fright and covered herself. Water splattered across the floor from the shower head and she slipped. Before she could react, she felt his arms grab onto her body and hold her up. She looked up at him, anger filling her face. Frantically, she grabbed the towel that fell to the floor beside her and wrapped it around herself. Beetlejuice started to laugh and she howled.
"Damnit! I told you NOT to come in here!" She rushed to turn off her shower and frowned at the wet sight before her.
"Aw Babes, don't worry." Beetlejuice snapped his fingers and all the spilled water disappeared. Lydia turned and her eyes flared.
"Come on, you have to admit your response was funny." He was holding himself in laughter. It only made her face redder.
"Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beet-" A cold hand wrapped around her mouth before she could finish. Beetlejuice was behind her now, holding her tightly.
"Alright! Alright! I get it. Jeez, you need to lighten up. It's not like I saw anything anyway!" Lydia fought against his grip, forgetting how strong he was for a ghoul. "Will you chill out?" She finally gave up after realizing she wouldn't win this battle, and he slowly let her go. After gasping for breath for a moment, she sneered.
"Will you at least let me change by myself, please?"
Beetlejuice huffed.
"Why, when I can just…" he raised his fingers and snapped them. "…do this?"
Lydia glanced down and saw that her towel was replaced with a pair of tight black jeans and a blood-red tight shirt. She was about to object but Beetlejuice disappeared from her sight before she could utter a syllable. What am I getting myself into? She grew worried as she left her bathroom, ready to make a deal with a devilish creature.
When she returned to her room, Beetlejuice was sprawled out on her bed, leaning with his arms behind his head and his legs crossed. She also noticed that the effects of the "earthquake" from the night before were erased and her room was back to normal. "Your digs aren't too shabby. Bit too small for me, though," he said as she walked over to her dresser and pulled out her hairbrush.
"Sorry I don't have a railing you could change into." Lydia started to detangle her hair and heard a chuckle from behind.
"Hope your dear old dad forgave me for that. 'Twas all in good fun, ya know." His response made her cringe a little. Her father almost died from that 'good fun'. "Ever hear from that Otho guy? He didn't seem to like the blue outfit I gave him…" Beetlejuice's snickering over old memories made Lydia tense up. She turned and faced him.
"Look, I'm sure you found those times to be wonderful, but they traumatized me. I can't even be in that house anymore because of you."
"Really? I thought you were into that stuff."
"I was, until you tried to force me into marriage."
"Aw, Lyds. I was desperate! And well, you were there…" Lydia could only shrug. She didn't want to talk about the past. Beetlejuice fell silent for a moment before readjusting his arms behind his neck. "Alright, fine. Past is off limits then. Guess I can't beg for forgiveness. Ha! Like I'd beg!" Lydia shook her head in frustration.
"You're just as irritating as you were before. Guess some things will never change."
"You changed." Beetlejuice's matter-of-fact tone surprised Lydia. His ability to shift from comedic of serious perturbed the mortal.
"Of course I changed," Lydia said as she placed her hairbrush back on the dresser and sat down in a recliner by her bedroom window. "It's been over seven years since you saw me last. People grow up."
"Nah, that's not it." Beetlejuice scratched his head a bit and stared at Lydia. She again took metal note as to how young he looked compared to the last time she saw him. Even as a dead guy, he looked to be in his 40s. But now…he could be 25 or 30. Maybe younger. It bothered her. "You aren't the same Lydia I tried to marry. Something's missing. You were all into that gothic crap and photography…haha…those sheet pictures you took were great…" he laughed a bit at the memory. Lydia blushed slightly in embarrassment. She hadn't thought of when she tried taking photos of Barbara and Adam in bed sheets in years. "Oh, forgot. No 'past' talk."
"I still do photography. I'm a freelancer mostly, but will occasionally submit work for newspapers and magazines." Her fingers played with each other in her lap. The tension between the two of them was unrelenting. Lydia could tell that this was going to be a difficult situation. She started to think against her plan…
"Well you got your shower. So will you tell me what's going on so I can get to work?" There was that impatience in his voice again. Lydia gazed at him before turning to look out her window. It was cloudy outside, with a few flakes of snow lazily falling down from the sky.
"We need to make a deal first." She could feel the tension worsen as Beetlejuice sat up straight in the bed.
"What do you mean a deal? It's not like I'm doing this for fun!"
"Look, it's nice for Juno to send you to help me with my problems. But I feel like I'm not getting anything out of this, and I want a guarantee. You're not exactly trustworthy." Lydia kept her eyes towards the window, not wanting to see the anger in Beetlejuice's face.
Beetlejuice's voice softened a little as he spoke, "You want to get hitched? That it? I could totally arrange that." The sarcasm in his voice made Lydia feel sick.
"No. What I want is answers."
"For what?"
"My questions. I have a lot I would like to know about the underworld, afterlife, and…" Lydia turned and looked at Beetlejuice, who was perplexed. "You." Beetlejuice pulled his head back and tilted it to the side, confused.
"You want to know about me? Why? There's nothing to talk about." That was a lie, and Lydia knew it.
"I'd like to know what you were like before we met. Why Juno hates you so much, why you always get into trouble, how you got your powers, what you were like as a human…"
"I don't want to talk about that stuff. It's none of your business." Beetlejuice snapped. Lydia hit a nerve and she knew from the burning look in his eyes. Her heart thumped for a second in her chest.
"Well if you're not willing to do that for me, I won't tell you anything. And if you're on a time-crunch, you'll just have to wait for Juno."
The pained expression on Beetlejuice's face made Lydia feel sympathetic slightly. He looked as though he was battling within his head over what he should do. Was he really that vulnerable?
"You know what? Fine. I'll tell ya whatever ya want to know. But you go first, alright?"
