Chapter 7: Christmas Morn
Lydia's world shook violently. She couldn't stop it. Everything shook until it went black. Lydia's eyes fluttered and suddenly snapped open. Someone was shaking her shoulders. She turned and saw the culprit.
Beetlejuice was floating over her wearing nothing but his ratty old robe and a pair of beetle boxers.
"Hey babes" Beetlejuice said. "You awake?"
"Huh?" Lydia fumbled and looked at her clock. It was 3:45am. "What? What's the matter?"
"Babes, it's Christmas, right?" Beetlejuice asked. Lydia was barely awake. She gave a weak gesture towards Beetlejuice and turned onto her side.
"Go to sleep, its 3:45" Lydia mumbled. The ghost floated down next to her and was relieved when Lydia didn't immediately kick him out of her bed.
"This okay babes?" Beetlejuice asked. If Lydia had looked, she would have noticed his big grin, but she didn't. She made a noise that didn't sound like a 'no'.
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Lydia awoke to the feeling of arms around her and her face pressed to someone's chest. She gasped and pushed herself up. Below her Beetlejuice was snoozing away. His arms were wrapped around her and she had been sleeping against his chest. Lydia narrowed her eyes, carefully slinking away from the bed.
Beetlejuice grumbled and then moved an arm over his head, but didn't wake up. In a panic, Lydia pulled her baggie of powder out of her drawer, took a large pinch of it and dropped it into Beetlejuice's open mouth. He smacked his lips together and continued sleeping.
Quietly, Lydia put the powder away and quietly moved to pull on her sweat pants. She pulled a robe on and watched the ghost sleep. When had he come to her last night? How long had they been asleep like that? She felt strange about it. She wasn't completely bothered by it, but she wasn't entirely okay with it either. He hadn't tried anything and she obviously didn't mind the company since she had cuddled right up to him.
"Wake up" Lydia said in a hushed voice. She shook Beetlejuice's foot. "Hey! Wake up!"
Beetlejuice snorted and turned onto his side.
"Beej!" Lydia said normally. She was used to people listening to her. Always the director, always in charge, never ignored and never by ghosts. Lydia crawled onto the bed and shook Beetlejuice's shoulder. "Hey! Wake up!"
"What?" Beetlejuice groaned. "What time is it? Noon? Give me…just give me one more hour."
"No! What are you doing in my bed?!" Lydia shrieked. Beetlejuice sat up, pushing Lydia back. He looked a little groggy, perhaps slightly confused.
"Did we have sex?" Beetlejuice asked with a yawn. He stretched his arms and then scratched his stomach.
"No!" Lydia gagged.
"Too bad" Beetlejuice grumbled. His hair was sticking every which way. Lydia jutted out her bottom lip. "I guess its okay though. That's probably something I'd remember."
"Great" Lydia grumbled. She climbed off the bed and started to go through her dresser drawers. "Look, you can't be here. You need to go back to your house."
"Bite me, Lyds" Beetlejuice grumbled. Before Lydia knew what she was doing, she had Beetlejuice's arm in her hands and uncontrollably bit him. "OW!"
"Sorry!" Lydia said dropping his arm. She quickly moved away from him, her jaw hanging open.
"What the hell?!" Beetlejuice shrieked. He stood up clutching his arm. "What was that for?!"
"I-I" Lydia spurted. Lydia backed up until she felt her desk hit her butt. "I didn't mean to."
"If you wanted me outta here, you could have just said something" Beetlejuice said. "You didn't have to get me so bent out of shape." Beetlejuice was instantly lifted off of the floor and his body contorted into strange shapes. "What's going on with me?"
"You should probably go home" Lydia said. The look on her face was a distortion of fright and concern.
"You'd better hope that I get this fixed" Beetlejuice said. He guided his malformed self through a mirror, disappearing into the Neitherworld. Once he was gone, Lydia let out the breath that she'd been holding.
"Oh my god" Lydia said softly. "What did I do?"
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Beetlejuice paced his living room, back in his normal form. It hadn't taken him long to get rid of the simple spell, but he was angry. Someone had to of slipped him some Bad Tongue powder and the only person he suspected was Lydia. His dark, macabre girl.
"That girl is going to pay" Beetlejuice said to himself.
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Lydia slipped into the shower before anyone could order her downstairs to open presents. The warm water hit her in the face and she turned so it danced across her back. She heard someone bang against the door and a muffled voice that sounded like Delia. Lydia groaned and reached for the shampoo.
"Are they always this annoying or is it just the right time of year?" Beetlejuice asked right outside of the shower curtain. Lydia gasped.
"Get out!" Lydia shrieked. The curtain was pushed back and Beetlejuice stuck his head into the shower. Lydia quickly bent and tried to cover herself, but Beetlejuice got an eyeful anyway.
"Shower time, huh?" Beetlejuice asked. In an instant Beetlejuice was in the shower with Lydia and grabbed the bar of soap.
"What are you doing?!" Lydia hissed. She grabbed the washcloth and tried to cover herself as much as she could.
"Soaping up" Beetlejuice replied. He turned his back to her, giving her a view of his ass.
"Get out!" Lydia hissed. Her mind told her that Delia was probably hearing this entire conversation. "I'm naked!"
"Yes, you are" Beetlejuice said shrewdly. He turned around and gave her a lecherous smile. "I am too, ya know."
"What's up with you?" Lydia asked. She let her hand, which was currently hiding her boobs, fall behind her. With a chuckle Beetlejuice leaned in. He wrapped his hands around Lydia's waist.
"You still have shampoo in your hair" Beetlejuice said with a smile. Lydia's hand found the shower control and quickly shoved the handle to cold. In an instant Beetlejuice was on the other end of the shower trying to avoid the icy water. "What the HELL Babes?!"
"Get out of here! What's the matter with you?!" Lydia asked. She turned the water back to warm and wrapped the shower curtain around herself.
"Lydia, is everything okay dear?" Charles called from the bathroom door.
"Everything's fine Dad!" Lydia called to him. She glared at Beetlejuice.
"Look, babes" Beetlejuice said stepping closer to her. "I don't appreciate fun little spells." He lifted her chin and pressed up against her plastic sheathed self. "Do it again and I'll do more than just shower with you. Got it?"
"Get out of my shower" Lydia said. Beetlejuice gave her a big smile.
"I have soap all over me" Beetlejuice replied. "Let me just rinse it off."
"Water is going all over the bathroom floor" Lydia groaned. Beetlejuice stood under the water and slowly rinsed the soap off. Lydia tried to keep her eyes off of Beetlejuice's body, but it was hard when the shower was so small.
When Beetlejuice was finished he looked Lydia up and down before simply vanishing.
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As soon as Lydia finished her shower and slipped into a pair of black jeans and a red tank top, she was downstairs. She filled her coffee mug before moving to the living room where the rest of her family was. Evan had already started in on a large present. Delia looked overly happy. Charles had a strange smirk on his face that he usually got when he took one of Delia's pills.
"Lydia, are you feeling okay today?" Delia asked.
"Yeah, I'm good" Lydia said sitting on a recliner. Evan finished ripping off the paper of his current present and spewed out a bunch of thanks for the toy airplane set.
"We heard you in the bathroom yelling at someone" Delia said. She sipped at her own coffee and looked as if she expected an answer.
"I…was on my cell phone" Lydia said. "It rang right before I went to take a shower. Nothing too bad, just some simple film issues."
"It won't keep you from graduating will it?" Charles asked.
"Nope. I took care of it" Lydia said with a smile. Evan put his present aside and started to pass out various items. He shook a somewhat small present of Lydia's and the sound of glass hitting the box could be heard.
"Sounds fragile" Evan said before handing it to his sister. Lydia frowned at him and gently shook it to check for broken parts. It sounded fine.
"If you broke it, I'll break something of yours" Lydia growled. Evan let his face hang in an 'o' shape and he looked over at Delia.
"Lydia, its Christmas. Can't you be nice to Evan just once? He didn't do anything wrong" Delia said. Evan kept pushing presents to each person until the rest of presents were for people who would be showing up later. Lydia rolled her eyes and started in on her five presents.
As usual, Lydia found herself slightly pleased with the gifts, but mainly asking herself 'why did they even bother?'. The glass object had turned out to be a glass candelabrum in the shape of three moaning ghosts. The next present had been a yellow leather bound journal that had Lydia's name printed on it. Lydia had flinched at the color, but smiled just the same. She had received a strange pair of gloves and a matching scarf that Delia had made. Luckily it had been in grey and purple. Playing the part of the thrilled daughter, she threw the scarf on before refilling her mug.
"Oh wow!" Charles said. He had an open box on his lap and he pulled out a lamp that was in the shape of a pheasant. "This will look great in my office!"
"Oh Charles" Delia said. "When I saw it, I just knew you'd love it."
Lydia looked at her last two presents. One looked as if it were a pile of books and the other one looked like a pile of cds. Inwardly she groaned. She picked up the purple wrapped package and opened it. Three books, just like she had guessed. One was on the basics of filmmaking. The second was a biography of Teddy Roosevelt. The third was a leather bound collection of work by Shelley. At least this last book seems promising, Lydia thought.
"Oh Lydia, your father said that you really liked Teddy Roosevelt" Delia said with a big smile.
"Oh yeah. Love him" Lydia said with a fake smile. "Thanks."
"Your presents suck" Evan said. "At least I have toys."
"Shut up" Lydia said. She picked up her last present and opened it up, unenthused. When she saw the cds inside, she became more excited. "Who found these?"
"I found an old Christmas list of yours from a few years ago" Charles said. "I hope you don't have those."
"Dad, I love them!" Lydia said looking at the five cds in her lap. Her father had for once paid attention and went above and beyond. She had Aphex Twin, Christian Death, Sisters of Mercy, Nick Cave, and Tom Waits in her hands.
"Oh good" Charles said. He blew off her excitement as if she had expressed it for each present that she had gotten. Lydia finished her coffee and stood up with her things.
"I'm going to go put these things away" Lydia said. Her family just smiled and continued to open their things.
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Lydia dumped the presents onto her desk and tore into the Tom Waits. She threw it into her stereo and laid down on her bed, awaiting his gravelly voice. Lydia took a deep breath and smelled a strange smell. She turned her head and smelled her sheets. It was the scent of Beetlejuice. She groaned and tried to turn her head away from the musty smell of dirt, sandalwood, and vanilla.
She sat up and looked over at her mirror. It was normal looking. She was a jumble of mixed feelings suddenly. She had been embarrassed in the shower, superficial while opening the presents, and she wasn't sure how she felt with Beetlejuice. Her mind screamed that he'd be over for dinner.
"Oh great" Lydia said falling back on her bed. She looked up at the ceiling and scrunched her face. "Do I get him something?"
A glance at the clock said that it was just 9:00 am. She had until four to find a present. What did one get the ghost with the most?
