Malcolm and Juliet by Bernard Beckett Read Free Book Online Page A

the yawning gap between the man on the yacht and his own pitiful store of talents, nautical or otherwise. Her story had been both insistently arousing and profoundly deflating, and when Charlotte tried to make more conversation Malcolm lied to her, inventing an appointment he had to hurry to. This was one woman he had no right to approach. He was going to have to look elsewhere.

Changing Rooms
    Elsewhere came looking for Malcolm, dressed in Juliet’s clothes. When she popped in the next afternoon, on the way to the gym, Malcolm noticed something he had never noticed before. Juliet was a woman. Still a friend, the way she had always been, but a woman too. And as soon as he saw that, he understood what he had to do.
    It made sense, surely. Things between them had always been so simple, and simple would be good, at least to start with. Juliet wouldn’t expect a fully equipped yacht on a moonlit bay. And friends did each other favours all the time. That’s what friends were for. It made such good scientific sense, to ask a friend.
    Then he saw her face and the look on it sent the idea running back to where it had come from.
    ‘Any other phone calls?’
    ‘Nah, and that guy was creepy. We need a new idea.’ She opened the fridge. ‘Pizza, cool. Want some? Camille in?’
    ‘Nah, working. Yeah, I’ll have some.’
    ‘Oh, actually the second piece is tiny. I’m starving and I have to go straight to the gym after this. Do you mind?’
    ‘Nah.’
    ‘Thanks.’
    ‘Tell me why you need the money. I might be able to help then.’
    Juliet, always a ferocious eater, was destroying the two pieces simultaneously. They both looked fairly large to Malcolm. He’d cut them himself and he never made mistakes with angles.
    ‘Nah, don’t want to talk about it.’
    They were both sitting on the couch. Juliet swung her feet round so they rested on Malcolm’s lap and surveyed the room, as if on the lookout for something else that was edible.
    ‘I came round here to be cheered up. How’s the research going? Got any more material?’
    ‘Yeah. It’s all starting to take shape now. I still need more interviews though. I want to vary it a bit. I thought I might ask Mum. It’s sort of fascinating don’t you think, the thought of your own conception? And maybe our principal, Mr Ramsay. It could be a good idea to include somebody of standing in the community, to lend credibility.
    ‘I still have to check out copyright laws too, because I want to get some short pornography montages and splice them into the action, to give it more impact. The judges said that last year you know. They said my entry lacked visual appeal.’
    Juliet was laughing and came dangerously close to jiggling her feet on his genitals in her amusement.
    ‘God, you’re priceless. You know that don’t you? Absolutely priceless.’
    It was the moment, the window of opportunity as Charlotte had put it, or at the very least a loose louvre.
    ‘Um, actually Juliet, it’s good you think that, because, well, I was sort of going to ask you a bit of a favour.’
    ‘Sure, no problem. What do you want?’
    ‘Well, I was just wondering whether you might consider…’ They were such simple words, yet somehow Malcolm’s mouth was incapable of shaping them. Juliet saved him the effort, her eyes widening with understanding.
    ‘You want me to…Oh, of course. Matey, no problem. I was wondering when you’d ask me.’
    She checked her watch and Malcolm felt his pulse push past 150.
    ‘Look, I don’t have a heap of time right now, but…no, I should be okay. Where then? Your bedroom I suppose. Let’s go.’
    She bounded up the stairs and Malcolm followed at a frightened distance. So this was how it would be. Him and Juliet. It was going to happen. He rounded the doorway, wondering if she would be naked already, and whether it would be a good idea to start undressing himself. Instead he found her fully clothed and standing facing the camera.
    ‘Okay then, I’m ready. Roll