Malcolm and Juliet Read Online Free PDF Page B

replied, although it didn’t seem fair at all. He always told her everything, didn’t he? He’d even thought about discussing his Charlotte plan with her, to get a female perspective. Now he wouldn’t, not if they were going to have secrets.
    ‘Sorry. I’d want to know too. It’s just something I have to do myself. Okay?’
    ‘I guess.’
    And the moment of disagreement slipped past, the way they always did. Malcolm had known Juliet since they were both four years old, and they’d never once had a proper argument. Some of that was fear on Malcolm’s part, but most of it was habit. Habits, the way he saw it, were sorely undervalued.
    ‘So can you help me? Where does a girl find a thousand dollars quickly?’
    ‘I could lend you a hundred and fifty. You haven’t got any?’
    ‘One hundred.’
    ‘How soon do you need it?’
    ‘A week maybe.’
    ‘We need a four hundred percent return then. That’ll be tricky.’
    ‘Come on, you’re clever. Think of something.’
    That was true, but only partly. Malcolm was more recreationally clever than gifted in a practical way, and after twenty minutes of impossible suggestions it was Juliet who finally hit on the idea.
    ‘Phone sex!’
    ‘What?’
    ‘You know, like people ring up and pay you money, and you—’
    ‘You what?’
    ‘You must have seen the ads in the paper.’
    ‘Yes, I have actually,’ Malcolm admitted. ‘I even thought about ringing one, as part of my research, but I never did. I mean what sort of a person…And wouldn’t you feel, you know…It’s the sort of thing people do when they’re desperate. People who don’t have any choices.’
    ‘Malcolm, look at me.’ And his best friend in all the world, with her split-level architecturally designed home, who had been overseas four times in the last two years and whose family had three cars at home in the garage, leaned forward and tried to make him understand. ‘That’s me, right now. I’m desperate. I can’t tell you why, but I am. So please, help me set this up.’
    ‘I just don’t think it’s the best way,’ Malcolm objected.
    ‘So give me a better one.’
    ‘I can’t.’
    ‘Then this is it.’
    ‘How will you know what to say?’
    ‘I’ll make it up as I go along.’
    ‘But how will you charge?’
    ‘How do the ones in the paper do it?’
    ‘They have a special number, but you need your own phone before you can set that up.’
    ‘Doesn’t matter.’
    Malcolm saw the look in Juliet’s eyes and knew instantly where this would end. Once Juliet took the first step, the journey was as good as finished. You could depend upon it. Some people found that admirable, others plain frightening. Malcolm was without an opinion on the matter. It was just Juliet, part of her nature, beyond reason or judgement. ‘They have to pay first. Like I give them a taster, for free, and then they send me money, and I send them a password, and next time they have to use it.’
    ‘But they’ll never tell you who they are,’ Malcolm reasoned. ‘So then, if the first time’s free, they’ll just keep ringing back pretending to be someone else.’
    ‘You know how I once said your intelligence made you attractive?’
    ‘I wrote it down and made you sign it.’
    ‘Yeah, well write down this,’ Juliet scowled. ‘I’ve changed my mind. It’s a pain in the arse.’
    ‘I’m just saying—’
    ‘Well it doesn’t matter,’ Juliet interrupted, catching hold of the next wave of desperation as it crashed towards the shore. ‘See, the first time is just a taster, like those free tours porn-sites have. It leaves you wanting more. So they will pay.’
    ‘How will you advertise?’
    ‘Easy. Same way everybody advertises. Junk mail. Remember how I did job experience for that radio station and they had a campaign, where schools tried to get everyone to e-mail in, so they could get a new computer? I’ve got the passwords. I can get in and load up half the student e-mails in the city. It’s