Seated at the far end of the dining table, Lydia absentmindedly pushed her food around her plate, occasionally spearing the odd prawn with her fork, chewing it just once or twice before hastily swallowing.
Delia's timing really couldn't have been any worse, usually she didn't even bother to serve dinner unless they were expecting guests, but she'd chosen today of all days to insist on eating together as a family. Today, when she had finally managed to strike up something that resembled a coherent conversation with her new, yet old, ghostly inhabitant. She'd contemplated faking sickness in order to avoid having to leave her room but decided against it. That would've only caused Barbara to fuss over her more, and right now that wasn't an option. She wanted to get to know Beetlejuice. The real Beetlejuice. It was evident he didn't plan on leaving anytime soon, so she figured it wouldn't do any harm to keep talking to him whilst she still had the chance.

However disgusting he may be, he actually intrigued her. And surely there was no shame in that. So why was she feeling so appalled with herself? The nagging voice of reason at the back of her mind returned as she rose from the table, filling her with doubt and dread. Accusing her of behaving like a stereotypical adolescent with a crush, and scolding her for keeping dangerous secrets.
Shuddering, she hastily mumbled excuses about being too tired to eat. Unable to resist any longer. She had to get back to her room. To him. She admittedly thought, defeated. She had to get back to him.

"Are you alright pumpkin?"
Charles Deetz asked, amidst a mouthful of seafood paella.

"Yeah, fine dad. Just tired."
She replied, keeping her tone as even and breezy as possible.

"But you've hardly touched your dinner Lydia."
Her stepmother piped up, as if pointing out the obvious was necessary. The woman had a knack for doing that.

"I'm sorry Delia, I'm just totally beat. Can you please save me some, so I can warm it up later if I'm hungry?"

"Of course dear."
She beamed, immediately brightening. Appeased by Lydia's well thought out response. It never failed.

"Thanks."
She smiled warmly,
"Goodnight, love you."

Racing up the stairs, she didn't even wait around for their response, such was her incessant need to talk further with her glorified roommate whilst she still had the opportunity. His mind was like a bag of cats, who knew where he went and what he was doing when he wasn't in her mirror. And she wanted to try and pin him down in the hopes of getting him to answer a few of the questions she'd longed to ask since their first meeting. And now there were even more. Indeed they were fast piling up into a veritable stack.
As she reached the landing, she met with Adam. His kind, open and honest face smiling down at her, succeeded in making her feel more dishonest and unappreciative than ever.
"Whoa there! Someone's in a hurry. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry Adam, just tired you know. Didn't sleep too well last night."
She admitted truthfully, but she couldn't help fidgeting awkwardly with the collar of her school blazer. Something she always did when feeling nervous.

Fortunately for her though, Adam was not nearly as perceptive, or familiar with her traits as Barbara was.
"Yes Barbara mentioned that you'd had a bad dream. I dare say it wasn't due to watching too many horror movies."
He joked, patting her gently on the forearm as she sidestepped around him.

Laughing, she halted in order to afford him the attention he deserved. That both he and his wife deserved. The couple had been so kind to her, yet here she was running around after the one who was least worthy of her time. Once again she was struck by the bitter realisation that she was a traitor. She was practically harbouring the one guilty of causing them all so much upset, which made her a guilty party too. 
"Hey Adam, listen....I just wanna say..."
She faltered slightly, feeling suddenly quite choked with emotion,
"...I mean, I probably don't say it often enough, but I want you to know that I love you guys, and thanks for always being there for me."

Slightly taken aback, Adam shot her a broad smile. His dazzling white teeth a stark contrast to...well...the other dead guy. God she was sick of her mind continuously being drawn back to him. Perhaps he'd taken control of her mind or something. She wouldn't put it passed him, and no doubt he was powerful enough.

"Aww, shucks Lydia. What's brought all this on? We'll always be here for you."
His gentle voice pulled her focus back.

She shrugged, and for want of something better to say simply spoke honestly,
"Just feeling stereotypically emotional. But I'm fine. Will you wish Barbara goodnight for me, and tell her I'll see her tomorrow?"

"Sure sweetie."
He promised, with his usual trademark nod of the head.

They bid each other goodnight, Adam making his way back towards the attic stairs, leaving Lydia to enter her bedroom.
It had grown dark outside now, making her room look gloomy in the half light. The cd had long since finished playing, an eerie silence had descended, and the noise created by every movement she made, seemed magnified.
"Are you there?"
She called out, as quietly as possible. Painfully aware of her own volume.
As she expected, he wasn't there awaiting her return. Still, why would he be? She tried again, this time with more conviction,
"Where are you?"
Still nothing.

Slowly she went over to her table and lit some candles, their warm glow immediately casting long shadows which danced across her mauve coloured walls.
So, time to outsmart the ghost with the most. She knew he'd be able to hear her calling his name, and she knew him well enough to know he wouldn't be able to resist responding to it.
Purposely positioning herself away from the mirror, she slipped off her navy blazer, and tossed it onto her bed, feigning irritation,
"Damn it Beetlejuice....you're never around when I want you."

No sooner had the words left her mouth, and he was there. Even without turning around she felt his ominous presence, and the sensation of his eyes burning into her back.
"Oh I'm right here babe. Just say the magic B words two more times...c'mon, c'mon just say it. Twice more and I can come out and play. You know you want to. You and me could have a lot of fun together."
He growled excitedly from the confines of the glass.

Fighting to keep her face impassive, she turned to face him. Still dressed in his robe, though it had fallen open slightly at the top revealing the ghastly white skin and trail of green moss which climbed down his neck and along his collarbone. She'd never seen him look quite so underdressed before, and she couldn't help wondering whether or not he'd been somewhere engaging in...well, whatever perverse carnal pursuits he engaged in.
"Where were you?"
She asked, sounding every bit like the nagging wife. And she momentarily hated herself for it.

His aged brow furrowed into a deep, confused frown,
"What? Sorry you'll have to repeat that, think I've got a little mould in my ears or somethin' cause for a minute there I thought you just asked me where I was...what, you wanna play wifey now?"

"No!"
She snapped, bristling perceptibly,
"I just wondered that's all. Like, where do you go? Where can you go? You're really powerful and stuff, you must be able to do amazing things..."
She was allowing her imagination to run away with her now, growing increasingly excitable as she spoke. Firing a relentless stream of questions at him before giving him enough time to answer any.
"....where did you get your powers from? Did they develop over time? So you've been dead a while I guess, how did you die?"

"Hey! Hey!"
He yelled, startling her into silence. His face now a mask of fury, his green eyes flecked with yellow, seemed to glow with anger.
"What is this twenty fuckin' questions? You said you wanted me, what for an interrogation? Give me a break."

"Sorry, I guess I was curious that's all."
She managed in a small voice,
"I didn't mean to be insensitive. I'm sorry. I'm just interested-"

"Yeah well there are some questions that you just don't fuckin' ask a dead guy, okay?!"
He cut her off sharply, gesturing wildly with his hands, even more so than usual.
"You call it being curious, I call it being fuckin' nosy, so how's about showing a little goddamned respect!"
His tirade came to a close, and for an awful moment she thought she might cry. But she managed to keep it together, with great effort and concentration.

He was pacing back and forth, his agitation increasing with every step, whilst muttering all kinds of expletives under his breath. Until he glanced up and caught the look of deep remorse and sadness on her pretty, young face. Shit. There was something in those big brown, expressive eyes that quite unexpectedly made him melt on the inside. As much as it alarmed him, it became apparent that had he been a couple of hundred years younger, he'd have been a complete sucker for those hazel eyes and China doll face.
Is this what he had been reduced to? A higher level poltergeist that still possessed greater power than any of his kind, reduced to a pitiful schmuck by a mere girl.
"Look, kid, enough already. Don't give me that Bambi-watching-his-mother-being-shot-and-tied-to-the-back-of-a-truck look. You're breakin' my heart...Listen how's about you get me outta here and then we can talk and whatever. I'll answer your questions, but you know it feels all impersonal, me being stuck over here and stuff, so how's about it, huh?"

Noticing the way in which his previous rage had dissipated rapidly, her own feelings of regret waned slightly.
"Nice try, but I'm not falling for it."
She answered flatly, folding her arms defensively across her chest.
But to her surprise he nodded, as if quietly admiring her decision to decline his offer.

"Okay, okay....new proposition, I answer a couple of your questions, but you gotta answer a couple of mine. Can't say fairer than that, right?"
He smiled crookedly, extending his arms as if to emphasise his point.

"What, and you'll answer them truthfully? No tricks, no lies?"

"Sure, sure...cross my heart and swear to die."

She shot him a bemused look,
"Seriously. Do you swear?"

"Every damn day."
He retorted dryly, with a quirk of his eyebrow.

"Stop it!"
She warned, trying to sound firm but failing miserably. She was sure he'd detect the smile audible in her voice.

"Okay fine. I swear....you got a bible? Maybe a slab of stone I can carve my signature into? I would say I'd write it in blood but, kinda runnin' on empty these days."

Pulling the chair out, she sat facing him, feelings of apprehension clawing at her insides. But as he conjure a chair in order to mimic her actions, the tension slowly began ebbing away.
"Kinda feels like being visited in the pen."
He remarked flippantly, then went on to cast one of his illusions, transforming his black and silver robe into an orange prison jumpsuit. Complete with a phone affixed to the side of a wall that previously hadn't been there.
She watched in awe as he lifted it from the receiver and nodded towards her, indicating for her to follow his lead. It was then she noticed the identical phone, now hovering beside her in mid air.
Obligingly she lifted it to her ear.

"Talk dirty to me honey."
His voice whispered hoarsely into the phone, rendering her almost completely helpless with laughter.

"Oh my god!"
She practically guffawed, trying to regain her composure and avoid a fit of hysterics.

"Husband actually, but for you darlin', I'll be anythin' you want me to be. Hell, I'm pretty much a god in the sack anyway. But let's just keep that between ourselves okay? Don't want word gettin' out. I blush easily."
He continued, seemingly on a roll.

"Stop..."
She begged, wiping away a stray tear due to having laughed so hard, she indicated towards the phone,
"This is amazing! How can you do stuff like this from behind there?"

"Does this count as one of your questions?"

She blinked rapidly, contemplating this for a moment.
"Um, no."

"Then I ain't tellin' ya."

"Okay..."
She thought long and hard. Her small features scrunched in concentration,
"Is your name...you know, your real name?"

"Yeah."
He replied without hesitation,
"That the best you got? 'Cause I was kinda expecting something a little more heavy. And if you're thinkin' of asking where such a crazy name came from, I really wouldn't bother. It'll only bore you to tears. But hey it's your choice, so shoot..."

"Alright....you know how you seem to think we're married..."
She ventured cautiously, hoping to keep her voice from wavering.

He leaned further forwards now in his chair expectantly,
"Well it's a little bit more than think, we are married babe. There's no doubt about it. And the sooner you accept it, the better it's going to work out for the both of us."

She swallowed hard, feeling her face begin to flush hot,
"Well, if that's the case then....what do you want? What do you still need from me?"

His twisted grin widened, and for some reason even though she was fully dressed, his half-hooded eyes felt as though he'd just stripped her bare. Such was the intensity of his gaze, and her blush deepened further.
"I thought you'd never ask...."
He rasped into her ear, his voice sending shivers along her spine.
"....You need to be willing to have me. Only then will the deal be sealed."

The breath hitched in her throat, and the phone almost slipped from her hand.
"Willing to have you?"
She spluttered,
"Like how? What does that even mean?"

Producing a cigarette and a single match from the top pocket of his jumpsuit, he brought his leg up, striking the match on the sole of his heavy black boot.
"I gotta level with you on this one. I have no fuckin' clue. But I'm workin' on figuring it out. Until then, look at it as a marriage of inconvenience. I'm your awfully wedded husband. As soon as I got an answer for ya, we can do whatever needs to be done and then I'm gone. Outta your hair, for good. Just don't go blabbing to your buddies the Maitland's, otherwise it could mean a whole world of trouble for you and me. Okay?"

Nodding dumbly, Lydia wouldn't have been able to reply even if she wanted to. Her mouth had gone incredibly dry, as though she'd just swallowed a sachet of silicone.

"Now, my turn.."
He laughed devilishly, and leaned forward once again.
She didn't know what to expect, but nothing could've prepared her for his next words, which floored her completely,
"Why did you say my name in your sleep?"

That was it, the phone receiver actually did fall from her grasp, slipping to the floor like a scene from a movie.
"Thought so.."
His voice rang out from the floor, as she fumbled clumsily to retrieve it.

"Thought what? Whatever it is you're wrong,  I haven't even answered yet."
She objected most vehemently.

"I thought you might've known why you'd say it. And you pretty much just proved me right. Now all you gotta do is tell me why."

Clutching the receiver unnecessarily tightly in her hand now, she screwed her eyes tightly shut. Blocking out his amused face. She'd have taken immense pleasure in slapping him at the moment.
"Please....please don't make me do this."

"Pfft. Please."
He snorted indignantly,
"Sorry but I'm all out of sympathy. You already managed to get outta the last deal we made, you ain't worming your way out of this one kid....c'mon how bad can it be? If you've been having downright dirty dreams about yours truly, there ain't no shame in that. Apart from it being a shame that it's just fantasy, but hey we can maybe work on making them a reality..."
His voice trailed off as he noticed the mortified expression she now bore. Tilting his head to one side, he registered her embarrassment and had to choke back a shocked gasp.
"Well....shit."
Was all he could muster, as the realisation that she had in fact been dreaming about him, hit him like a ten ton truck.

"They weren't dirty."
She supplied finally after a very lengthy, awkward pause. Pulling her face to express her distaste.
"We were kind of just friends, who had the best time together."

He was staring at her askance now, and having him look at her in a way that implied she'd lost her mind, made her feel even more ridiculous. What right after all, did he of all people, have to question her state of mind?
"I'm not in control of my dreams."
She added hurriedly in her defence,
"And it's your haunting here that messed with my head. I would've seen a shrink but they'd have packed me off to a mental hospital the minute I mentioned the fact that I see dead people."

His silence was unnerving her now, and she was practically squirming in her seat, rambling like an incompetent idiot.
"It was most probably just coincidence, or emotional trauma, or-"

"Spooky action at a distance."
He muttered as if to himself, and suddenly he was on his feet, the phone illusions gone, along with his jumpsuit. In it's place was the almost legendary black and white, monochrome striped suit. Slightly looser on him now, but still just as striking.

"W-what did you say?"
She asked, once she'd recovered from seeing him in the suit which seemed to have a very strange affect on her.

"Page 831, chapter 115 paragraph 9."
He rambled, distractedly pulling his dirty sleeve up to reveal no less than four watches adorning his left wrist.

"Why do you wear four watches?"
She asked, her curiosity refusing to wane despite the abrupt and sudden change in his behaviour.
His reaction to her confession was most worrisome, and she was hoping he'd supply her with an explanation without her having to push for one.
But this was Beetlejuice after all, so no such luck.

"Sorry babe, question time's over. Gotta split."

"You've not asked your other question yet."
She pointed out, without knowing why. Subconsciously she was stalling, hoping that his sudden sense of urgency to leave wasn't a sign of danger or impending doom. It never hurt to be prepared for the worst where he was concerned. She'd learnt this from her dealings with both his real and dream counterpart.

"Oh don't you worry, I won't forget. You can owe it me."

"So you...you'll be coming back?"
She asked, not daring to analyse the fear and hope she was experiencing. Afraid to death that he'd answer no, and hoping with every fibre of her being that he'd answer yes. His presence should not, could not, possibly mean that much to her. Yet it did.

"Of course I am. Like I said, I ain't goin' nowhere. You don't get rid of me that easy. I'll be back before you know it. Sorry to disappoint ya."

And then he was gone. Leaving his last words echoing around the room and inside her head.

If only he knew....