Chapter Thirty-Four: Crazy for Feeling
"Well...Do you think it worked?" Lydia asked Beetle, trying to hide the insanely awkward feeling growing inside herself.
She stood behind him, as he juiced the lock on his front door, before pushing it open. "Eh, Trixy was pissed, so I'd say it was a win."
Lydia followed him inside his home, eyeing the lewd posters plastered all over his living space. Trixy was probably lying to her, anyway. However, Trixy did know about Lydia, though she was wrong about just who Lydia was. There was no way that grouchy, ghost full of animosity for her was actually feeling like that. "Um, thanks for beating the hell out of Bill for me." Lydia spoke, trying to rip herself away from her disturbing new thoughts.
"Fucker had it comin' to him. I got tired of his shit." Beetle said, wobbling over to his cruddy old sofa, plopping himself onto it.
"You had a whole lot of rage in those fists, BJ." Lydia smirked, trying her best not to act strange, while secretly monitoring him. Yes, it was insane, but now she was intensely curious, and that damned curiosity of hers was usually her downfall.
"Well, he's been burryin' his head in Trixy's fun bags fer months. All I could see was that slimy face motorbotin' those tits. What can I say? It was a helluva motivator." he grunted, juicing a beer in his hand and a smoke in his lips. He looked pretty disgruntled for someone who'd walked away victorious.
"You think you and Trixy are done now?" Lydia asked, walking over to sit beside him, watching his every reaction.
"Hell, I dunno. That skag's never done harrassin' me. Pretty sure I'm completely turned against her shitty stripper charms now. That shit's too fucked to work. I'd be lyin' to mahself if I thought otherwise." he shook his head, before glancing at her open hand. "Want one?" he asked, catching her off guard a bit.
"One what?" her brow furrowed, feeling too lost in her thoughts to actually listen.
"A beer, Deetz. What else?" he snarked, as she nodded in agreement.
"Sure. Thanks." she replied, still feeling weird as he juiced a brew into her grasp.
For a moment she was sure Trixy was completely full of shit, until Beetlejuice opened his mouth again. "I saw that hag pull ya to the side. What kind of bullshit story did she spew about me?" he asked, seeming way more composed than he usually was. Something was off about it. Beetle was never composed as of late.
As much as she wanted to tell him everything, she knew better than to attempt such a feat. However, she chose not to fully lie, either. Beetlejuice was far from stupid, and she knew he was a natural bullshitter, so he'd likely catch wind of her own potential verbal excretions, should she fall too short of the truth. Either way, it was going to be strange and uncomfortable, so she went for the lesser of the two evils. "Trixy told me you were...uh...with Ruby while I wasn't around you. I think she wanted to mess things up in our imaginary relationship.''
"Uh, yeah. That." he looked away from her, scratching the back of his head. "Figures she'd say that. Eavesdroppin' little teabagger." he mumbled, before taking an extra-long drag from his cigarette.
Somehow, the tension in the air was so thick she could slice it. "I guess that was the part where I was supposed to slap you or be all dramatic or something." she chuckled, hoping to clear said tension a bit.
"Hehe. That shit only works when the girlfriend actually gives a fuck." he snorted, still keeping his eyes directed at a random poster on his wall. "Didn't plan on her tellin' yer ass, though. Kinda' wanted to keep that one to mahself."
Okay, this wasn't her imagination. He was acting strange. Why, she didn't really know for certain. Maybe Trixy was still full of shit. Maybe he was upset over something else. "Uh...That ALL she told ya?" he continued, his voice sounding strangely flat.
Now was the moment that Lydia chose to omit certain things. He'd likely deny them anyway, and for some reason, she was drawn to the actual truth of it, no matter what it was. How would one even handle the infatuation of some scary, mean, dead guy that was her hero-slash-enemy? Why was she insane enough to ask herself that? "...Yeah. That was all." she shrugged, trying to be all nonchalant so she had a snowball's chance in hell of fooling him.
"You sure about that, Deetz?" he finally took his eyes off of the naked girl on his wall, turning to her, a mixture of scrutiny and something else on his features. Curiosity, perhaps? Maybe like herself.
Lydia nodded quickly. "Yeah. I mean sure, it's gross, but I'm a grown woman. I've heard worse." she spoke as casually as possible, though he didn't look very pleased.
"Gross?" he raised a brow. "Why's it so gross, Deetz? 'Cause I'm dead? Ugly? Dirty? A sleazy ballbag?"
"No. I-I don't understand." Lydia cleared her throat, feeling uncomfortable as hell under his forming glare. God, he was angry a lot.
"I mean, I know we ain't that chummy, but damn. You'd think me bangin' a chick is like findin' a turd in yer fancy, New York salads 'er somethin'. It's really that nasty to you breathers?" Beetle asked, and for some godforsaken reason, there was a hint of real, honesty in his tone and features. Okay. She wasn't used to that.
"Well, I didn't mean it that way." she tried to back pedal a bit, but he promptly put a stop to it.
"Uh-huh. Then, what, pray tell, does yer ass mean by that?" he leaned in closer, his grimy hand gripping his beer tightly.
"I didn't mean anything." she mumbled, now looking at her feet. What was going on with him? Just when Lydia was about to go on another wild tangent of thoughts and possibilities, Beetle abruptly yanked her from those thoughts.
"Yer a shitty liar, Deetz." he growled in her face, his own expression filling with that all too familiar rage again. "That bitch TOLD you, didn't she? FUCK! No wonder you've started actin' all weird around me!" he stood up, beginning to pace about the floor like a rabid, man-eating panther.
"Told me what?" Lydia's eyes quickly locked with his, some part of herself just too damned curious to cooperate. Something inside of her wanted to pull it out of him, whatever the hell it was.
"Don't play dumb, Deetz! You know! There's no way in Satan's asshole that Trixy kept that to herself!" he huffed, kicking a small end table over, which was far from unusual, since Lydia was pretty used to Beetle's ritualistic abuse of home furnishings. What she wasn't used to, was being told a crazy, hateful, poltergeist might actually have a thing for her. Or not? It was all too perplexing to even begin to wrap her head around.
She wasn't dumb enough to give in just yet. Maybe she needed to know something, because it really blowed feeling guilty about him all that time. Maybe his shitty behavior was something else entirely. Then again, maybe she was entering another mental breakdown phase again. She wasn't completely certain. "What do you think I know?"
"Oh, no ya don't! I'm not sayin'! If you expect me to give you what ya want, then I got all eternity, Babe! You don't!" he fumed, pointing his cigarette in her face, and causing her to lean back to avoid it.
"What do you mean, what I want? I told you! I wanted to help you! That's it." she reiterated the same things she'd said a dozen times before.
"No, your little, conniving ass wants more than that! I'm not fallin' for it, Deetz! I don't care how much ya doll yerself up, ya tell me how great I am, ya try to piss me off by sleepin' around-" he growled, quickly catching himself and shaking his head, as if to direct his thoughts elsewhere.
"What? I wasn't trying to make you jealous! You don't even like me! You tell me ALL the time! Like, multiple times a day! What are you talking about?" she finally found herself becoming exasperated, that unease inside herself growing wider with each off-the-wall remark he made.
"I'm talking about the fact that you've been tryin' to WOO my ass the whole time I've seen you! I ain't yer little boyfriend, Deetz! I never will be!" he spat furiously, as she stood up, feeling like she should probably get behind something or bolt out his door any moment. It was apparent he was getting ready to blow his top.
"No! What?! I'm just trying to be your friend, BJ! I needed you, and you came through for me- " she began, only for him to throw his beer bottle against his nudie calendar, shattering it.
"STOP IT, DEETZ! THAT'S BULLSHIT!" he yelled so loudly, it actually scared her for the first time in a while, reminding her just who she was actually dealing with. "STOP with the friendzone shit! Yeah, yeah, yeah! Sure! YOU are full of it! You dress in these skimpy little things around me, climbin' up on me, talkin' all sweet, tryin' to screw with my fuckin' MIND! THAT'S IT! It's not me, it's yer ass who's responsible fer that shit!" he stomped about, as almost every naked chick poster flung off his wall, swarming her and smacking her, which wasn't painful, since it was just paper, but it was a bit unnerving.
Yes, he was on the verge of blasting her ass with his powers, but she just couldn't let it go. He was hinting at things, but he wasn't being as blatantly obvious as she was used to. Not even close. "Responsible for what?" she became emboldened, forcing herself to ask the question, as she tried swatting the disturbing tornado of naked boobs away.
"YOU KNOW WHAT! I TOLD YER ASS, I'M NOT SAYIN' IT!" he paced up to her, as the posters fell to the floor, and although she had a small inkling of momentary boldness, that fucked right off and left her feeling terrified. Yes, underneath all that he'd been human, but her wishful thinking often clouded her vision. He was also a very real threat, and therefore, she promptly took off running through his house. "HEY! GET BACK HERE!" he fumed, as he chased after her, every bulb and glass he ran past bursting with his pissed off energy.
"NO!" she rasped, looking over her shoulder and seeing him right on her tail, each room falling dark behind his rampant, destructive energy.
"YER NOT GETTIN' AWAY, DEETZ!" he snarled, as she saw his bedroom door shut tight right in front of her. She immediately ducked down, as he tripped over her, crashing into it, as she scrambled to her feet, panicking as she made her way to his front door.
Lydia heard him scramble to his feet, cursing her every breath, as she flung his front door open, attempting to dart out of it.
"OH, NO YA DON'T!" he yelled, as the door slammed shut, trapping her foot in it.
"Shit!" she fell to the cold ground with a thud, thrashing and wriggling out of her shoe, before she started hobbling away, not feeling very confident about the one shoe method of travel. And, of course, her gut feeling about trotting off with one high heel on was spot on, as she felt herself hit the ground once more. She winced, though somehow, she wasn't in any pain at all. Must've been a Neitherworld thing.
After a brief moment of stillness, she slowly opened her eyes, as she laid flat on her stomach, feeling some pressure on her foot. She gazed at the offending appendage, her eyes growing wide as she realized he was laying on his stomach slightly behind her, with a chain attached to a cuff on her ankle. A chain that he held.
"Really, Deetz? You tried to bolt on my ass? Where the hell did ya think you'd end up? You're on my end of death, remember?" he asked, somehow not losing his shit at that moment.
"I don't know. You were being scary." she whimpered. "What are you going to do to me?"
"Well, yer ass didn't have to take off." he grunted, standing up and dusting his striped suit off, which was basically a pointless endeavor, considering it was dirtier than the ground they'd fallen on.
"You didn't have to chase me like that. I thought you were going to kill me." she exhaled, turning over and sitting on the ground, wiping a hand down her face.
"Yeah, I kinda did." he shook his head, pulling another smoke from thin air as he reached for her hand. "And enough with the murder shtick. I'm keepin' ya alive, crazy."
"What?" her brow furrowed, as she hesitantly took his hand allowing him to pull her up with ease.
"I told ya I've got ya on life support down here. If ya stray too far, you'll be a permanent resident of the Neitherworld, kapeesh?" Beetle shrugged, walking off in the distance and taking a long drag, the strange awkwardness returning to replace his former rage.
Lydia nearly gasped. "Oh, shit. I-I didn't mean to-" she began.
"Yeah, well I caught ya, so. Congrats. Yer alive, Babe." he muttered, kicking a rock in front of himself, still tightly holding the chain in his free hand.
"Wait." Then it donned on her. "But you hate me. You can't marry me. You can't do anything with me. You don't need me at all. Why didn't you just let me go?" she slowly began to stand. What the actual hell was going on?
"Pfffft! Don't get it twisted." he scoffed. "Don't wanna deal with the legal shit."
"Yeah, but you wouldn't. I'd be away from you." her eyes narrowed, as he began to fidget about a bit under her gaze. "Besides, you're powerful. You could pin it on anyone, couldn't you?"
"Well, yeah? What the fuck do you care?" he grouched, tugging at her chain and forcing her to walk toward him.
"Then just why do you care?" she finally asked defiantly, as he cleared his throat, pulling the smoke from his mouth. "You've admitted you can do whatever you want. You can travel to my place and back anytime. You're sort of free. You can literally let me cross over to your side without evidence."
"Have you lost yer fuckin' mind, Deetz?" he shook his head at her, which was just a silly attempt at making her feel crazy. Too bad for him, she was already crazy, so it wouldn't really work.
"Nope. If you hate me so much, let me go. I'll be out of your hair. I ruined your life, so you can ruin mine." she provoked him, wondering just what he'd do. She didn't really want to be dead, though somehow, she realized it wouldn't come to that anyway. Could it be that he actually cared if she lived or died? "It's only fair, BJ."
"You've lost it. C'mon, get back in here, Deetz." Beetle grouched, yanking the chain again.
"No. Let me go." Lydia dared him, somehow feeling more defiant than ever before. If there was one thing Beetle brought out of her, it was her fight. He'd helped her wipe out the bullshit in her own life, and now, he'd help her clear up his own. Maybe whatever crazy game he was playing would come to an end, and that would be the best for both of them.
"Nope." he shook his head, this time yanking her hard enough to make her damn near stumble into him, though he was merely irritated and no longer enraged.
"Why?" Lydia wouldn't drop it, and because of that, he was growing increasingly agitated again.
"Fuck you. Get in here." he continued to grouch, grabbing her by the forearm.
"Why won't you answer me? If you don't like me, then get rid of me." she said, yanking her arm away from him.
"Shit." he hissed. "Look, you'd still be here. Well, unless ya go to hell...er, uh, heaven er somethin'."
"Why not? It beats looking at me all the time. You can take my apartment, whatever you want. I only have it for three more months, anyway." Lydia coerced him, waiting to see if he'd buckle under the pressure.
"Okay, Deetz I know what yer doin'." he snorted, abruptly pushing her through the door. Well, he wouldn't answer, but he wasn't daring to get rid of her.
That was close enough, she figured. It was probably as close as the stubborn asshole would admit to it, anyway. "BJ..." she turned to him, deciding to go ahead and clear the air for them both.
"Wut?" he grunted, closing and locking the door behind them.
"Trixy told me how you felt." she finally blurted out, watching his color drain away, if that was even possible.
