Lydia laid her head on Beetlejuice's shoulder and never wanted to leave that spot. Her heartbeat had finally come down and she felt languid and wonderful. She closed her eyes and ran her fingers over his chest. He dropped a kiss the top of her head and sighed.

"Lyds?" He asked after a few moments.

"Mmm?"

"Babes, I think you should go to college." Lydia only nodded until his words sank in. She pulled herself out of his arms and glared at him. Her afterglow gone and she looked furious.

"After all of that you are taking Delia's side? I don't even know what to say. I just can't believe it." She fell back and stared up at the ceiling.

"Babes, listen to me. I'm not on Delia's side. I just want the best for you. You deserve the best. You don't need to stay here just for me, I'll always be here for you." His voice cracked and he hated himself for that, but he knew that he was doing the right thing. She didn't say anything for a long time, but she didn't leave her spot next to him so that gave him some comfort.

"It wouldn't be the same Beej, I'd be so busy with classes that we wouldn't have any time together. I'd miss you so much." She felt the tears well up in her eyes and felt humiliated at them.

"Things are never going to be the same Lyds. Not after tonight, not ever. Yeah we wouldn't see each other as much, but we'd still see each other. It's not like it will be four years before we see each other again. There will be weekends and holidays. You know that all you have to do is call me whenever you need me and I'll be there." He felt something hot and wet hit is skin and realized that she was silently crying. He turned on his side and pressed her close to him. She buried her face in his chest and shuddered with her silent tears. He rubbed her back and kissed her head, trying everything he could to make her feel better.

Lydia lifted her head and gave a big sniff. Beetlejuice gently brushed away the last of her tears as she looked at him.

"I just don't want anything to keep us apart Beej. You're everything to me."

"Nothing will ever keep us apart, least of all your education. The fact is Lyds, is that your alive, I'm not. You need to have the best life you can, while you can. This is something that you might not think is important now, but you will think so later on. You know I can't make you do anything Babes, you need to make your own decision about this, but I am hoping that you take what I said into consideration." He rubbed her arms when she nodded against him. When she lifted her head to look at him, her eyes were starting to turn red from the tears.

"I know BJ, but tonight I just want to lay here, with you. I don't want to make any decisions tonight, but I will think about everything you said." She felt tired as she spoke, but she felt protected and comforted in his arms when he smiled down at her. It was a sad smile, but it was there. She snuggled back into his arms and fell asleep, her arm wrapped around his chest and his arm wrapped around her waist.

"Lyds wake up." Beetlejuice gently shook her awake. She slowly opened her eyes and stretched.

"What's the matter BJ?" She mumbled against his chest.

"Nothing is the matter Babes, but you should probably get going. Chuck and Deliah would freak if they walked in your bedroom and found nada." He stroked her hair and she just groaned and rolled over.

"I don't care what they think. They don't know where I am and I don't want to go back just yet."

"Babes, you know that you can't do that. If you go disappearing into the night, they are going to start suspecting something." If he could he would stay like this forever, but he knew that it wasn't going to happen. Not now anyway.

Lydia sighed. She knew that he was right. Even though her father and Deliah weren't the smartest people on the planet, they would start to get suspicious eventually. She sat up in the coffin bed and searched for her nightgown.

"What time is it anyway BJ?" She asked in a yawn.

"Around five in the morning. That should give you enough time to get back into your room and make it look like you've slept there all night." He said looking at the clock. She just nodded and slipped on her nightgown. She looked at Beetlejuice and smiled. His hair was standing on end and he seemed to have almost a soft, warm side to him.

"What are ya looking at Babes?" He asked smiling at her. She shook her head and got up.

"I was just thinking about how cute you are. You are you know." She watched him shrug into his pajama bottoms and get up with her. He stood up and gently grabbed her arm, pulling her to him. She rested her head on his chest and sighed. "I'll be back as soon as I can, or maybe you can come to me." She said feeling his skin against her cheek. It felt so good, so right.

"You know it Babes, all you gotta do is ask."

Lydia stepped onto the soft carpet in her bedroom and sighed. She felt like this was a place that she was visiting, rather than her own home. She slipped underneath her cold sheets and curled up into a ball. She thought about Beetlejuice's body next to her and she was able to fall back to sleep for an hour.

"I've thought about it last night and I think that I might try the college thing for a little while." Lydia said to her father and Delia a few hours later at the table. She wanted to slap the smug look off Delia's face when she looked at her.

"I'm so glad that you decided to see things our way Lydia dear." She said in that overly fake sweet voice of hers. That voice grated on every nerve Lydia had.

"Where have you decided to go to Pumpkin?" Charles asked from behind his newspaper. Lydia wondered why she even bothered talking with her father. He might as well just disappear rather than hide behind a book or newspaper.

"There's a nice art school in Fairfield. It's only a few hours away so I can come home and visit if I want to." She said shrugging.

"Sounds good Pumpkin, you'll have fun I'm sure."

"You're staying in Connecticut? Why don't you want to go to New York where all of the good colleges are?" Delia asked, her chest puffing out.

"I'm going to college, that should be good enough Delia." Lydia said coldly before she got up to walk out of the door.