"I sometimes wonder what would make one seek such a position," Bif said icily. "What one must lack within themself which would urge them to look for someone like Derby to associate with."
It was directed yet vague. "I remember when Derby and I were back at school," he said airily, almost as though talking about someone else's life-- in a way, he was-- "There wasn't really any sort of... arrangement," he said. He could have remembered fondly, explaining to Tad that what they had sometimes felt more than friendship, that it was a bond that an imbecile like Tad wouldn't understand no matter what he did.
But he wouldn't. Couldn't.
"Perhaps you're confusing walking away with getting on with one's life, Spencer," he said. His voice was clipped and sharp, and he inhaled on the cigarette with a level of aggression normally not associated with having a smoke. "Maybe some of us are able to get by without having to follow in another's footsteps."