"Ellie is the strongest person I know," Joel says, his voice suddenly quiet and ice cold. "Just because I don't want to see her hurt more than she already has been don't mean I think she's weak. And I never want her to be alone. What part of I want her to have friends didn't get through that thick skull of yours?"

He's completely done with this conversation, done with talking past this woman who refuses to hear him and instead seems to want to make him out to be something he's not, just so she can keep disliking him. He turns and walks away.