Kay and I agree on everything: how fit Jake Gyllenhaal is, how soothing Liverpudlian accents are, how we are obviously not going to give the museum a voluntary donation. Being with her is easy, like sinking into a bubble bath or stealing a boy's well-worn Reebok jumper after a night out. It's easy to forget that Kay is actually getting paid to be here – £20-an-hour, just to pretend she cares about me. She's very good at it.
I found Kay on rentafriend.com, a website where, for a $24.95 (£19.25) monthly fee, you can pick someone to hangout with from a database of 621,585 people. The site was set up in 2009 after CEO Scott Rosenbaum found himself wondering why there were so many dating websites, but none for platonic relationships.
https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/59x9g5/i-rented-a-friend-to-see-if-i-could-cure-my-loneliness
The entire article is quite interesting, but I really don't like the idea of it. Mainly cos as the author points out, as much as they might profess to like you, the whole thing would essentially feel artificial and hollow. Think I'd end up feeling even more lonely honestly.