"Why wouldn't you get in a fight with him over this?" Elio said. "This isn't the time to be calm, Holland."
He was right. I knew he was right. But knowing and doing were two different things.
I couldn't possibly fight Roma over this. I know if this happened to Elio he would beat Roma up immediately. I can't do that.
"But if I say anything, he's going to think I am fighting with him because of my boyfriend," I said with a low voice. It sounded like an excuse, even to me.
"And?" Elio asked.
"What do you mean 'and'?" I asked back.
"The only reason he would feel that way is because he's interested in your boyfriend and knows what he's doing is wrong," Elio said. He said it like it was obvious. Like I was being stupid for not seeing it.
"But he met my boyfriend before me," I said. "I just came to Novaterra and then I stole his lover or something." That was how Roma probably saw it. I was the outsider who had come in and taken something that wasn't mine.
