"Ugh," I said, batting at Elio with both my hands before I grabbed him up into a hug. "I do love you. Even though you're a bloody jerk to me."

I clearly didn't mean my words. There wasn't a time in my life here that Elio had been a jerk to me. He liked to tease and I liked to pretend it was the worst thing in the world, but I knew well what it was really like, being friends with someone who was cruel. Elio would never and could never be like Peter.