Promenade Your Partner
by
Owlcroft

Lydia entered her room, head drooping, steps slow. Beetlejuice, waiting in the mirror, started to call to her, then noticed her demeanor and said quietly instead, "What's wrong, Lyds? How can I help?"

"It's just . . ." Lydia dumped her books on her desk and sighed. "It's my dumb phys. ed. class. Oh, BJ –" then she realized he was still waiting for her and said his name three times.

"Okay!" Once out of the mirror, Beetlejuice threw his arms wide and beamed at her. "So what's going on with this dumb class? You know I'll fix it for you, babes."

She sat dejectedly on the side of her bed. "We have to take square dancing for the next month. And it's so hard," she complained. "We had to memorize all the moves and then step through them in time to the record of the dance caller. And he goes so fast! I was awful." She clenched her fists in frustration. "Ooh! I should be able to do this!"

He noticed the square dance pattern pamphlet on top of her books and picked it up to thumb through it. "You're a terrific dancer, Lyds. Of course, you can do this sort of stuff." He flipped a page and examined the diagrams closely. "You just need some practice, that's all." He held out a hand to her. "Let's walk through some of these, okay?"

They did, with increasing confidence, but Lydia suddenly called a halt. "My room's just not big enough. Especially with all the imaginary dancers we have to pretend are here. We need more space, and I need to hear the music and the steps being called."

"No problem. Your school's closed now, right? So we go to the gym and put the record on and dance our toes off." Beetlejuice grinned at her hopefully.

"Well . . ." She pondered for only a few seconds before nodding. "If you can make the gym soundproof so nobody knows we're there. Oh, Beej, it would be such a help!"

ooooo

Once on the gym floor, Beetlejuice made sure it would impossible for anyone to hear them, and checked the shades on the windows. Lydia found the record the teacher had used and set it up.

"Okay," she said, moving to stand in front of him. "Let's try it." The music began and the calling started and they were confused from the second move.

Beetlejuice stopped the record with a wave of his hand and scowled down at his feet. "This is a lot harder than I thought it would be."

"I know. It all looks pretty straightforward, but when you have to move just the right way at the right time . . ." Lydia sighed. "It's hopeless. I'm hopeless."

"No, you're not. Let's try it again, without the music, just stepping through the patterns, okay?"

They went through the moves, slowly, then again a little faster, then tried it with the record playing. This time, they got through the dosado, the right arm turn, and the allemande left before becoming confused and out of step.

Beetlejuice waved a hand to lift the needle of the phonograph, then frowned at his partner. "I messed us up," he said crossly. "You were doing all right and I went the wrong way."

"But we're doing better," Lydia smiled at him and extended a hand. "We really are doing the steps, BJ, and we're doing them right. Once more? Please?"

And this time they got all the way through with only two minor hesitations and a slightly awkward swing-your-partner.

"We did it!" Lydia hopped up and down a few times, grinning with joy. "Beej, we did it!"

"Yeah, we did." He was grinning, too, and feeling pretty pleased with himself. He was also exhilarated from the dance, having his arm around Lydia's waist, around her shoulders, holding her hand. "One more time, babes? Just to make sure we got it?"

She agreed at once and the music and the calling began again. Lydia, too, felt exhilarated, comfortable, right. They turned together, paraded in the allemande, swung each other, bowed and circled, laughing.

At the end, Lydia threw her arms wide in triumph. "Oh, thank you, BJ! You are the best friend anybody ever had!" She hugged him, hard, and held the hug until he finally put his arms gently around her. "You do so much for me and help me whenever I need it. I do love you, Beej, and I hope I'm as good a friend to you as you are to me."

"Ah . . ." He unconsciously tightened his hold on her, "Well, um . . . you . . ."

She looked up at him, hoping he could get past this emotional block, willing him to.

"You are the best . . . the most . . . the best friend I could ever . . ." he was breathing quickly now, but forced himself to say, "that I could ever . . . have or . . . want. And –" Beetlejuice winced his eyes shut, turned his face from her, and hunched his shoulders, "and I . . . I fe–feel . . . I mean, I . . . uh, yeah." And he stopped, face crumpled in a frown of anticipation. When all Lydia did was press her face gently against his shoulder, his eyes blinked open in surprise.

"I'm tired," she sighed. "But I really don't want to just go home now. Can't we dance a little our way? Just for a few minutes?"

He turned his head to look at her and realized that her last, late growth spurt at sixteen meant her head fit perfectly now, with his chin able to brush against her forehead and soft, beautiful hair. "Okay," he murmured and snapped his fingers.

The lights dimmed and "Moonlight Serenade" started playing in the background. Beetlejuice took her right hand in his left and slid an arm around her waist. "May I have this dance?" he asked with a tiny smile.

She smiled back at him dreamily and nodded. "You certainly may," and rested her hand on his shoulder as he led her into a slow foxtrot.

After a minute, "I'm so glad we learned the foxtrot," Lydia said softly.

"Me too," Beetlejuice replied, his breath ruffling her hair just a bit.

After another minute, she added, "Our steps match so well. All that dancing together . . ."

"Mm-hm."

She leaned her head against his collarbone and he felt something strange happen to his heart. He took a deep breath then nestled his cheek against her hair and she sighed in contentment.

They moved together in the darkened gymnasium, their steps matching perfectly.