The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Dickie loses his temper, accusing Tom of being homosexual, and explaining that Marge believes he is. One day, Dickie walks in on Tom trying on his clothes and mimicking his voice.

This conflict slowly boils over, and Dickie, who is well-meaning but somewhat uncomfortable with emotional entanglement, ends up fighting with both Marge and Tom. Tom and Marge distrust each other and compete for Dickie's affection, especially since Tom seems to have unrequited feelings for Dickie too.

Dickie even asks him to move into his house instead of staying in a hotel, and the two men travel through Italy together. Slowly, Tom charms Dickie, gaining his trust by telling him the truth about his reason for coming to Italy. Though Dickie evidently does not return Marge's romantic feelings for him, their friendship seems not to have space for Tom. Dickie does not remember Tom, and he has a close friend already, an American woman living in Mongibello named Marge Sherwood. His arrival in Mongibello, Dickie's town, is awkward. After a dinner at the Greenleafs' apartment, in which it becomes clear how desperate Dickie's parents are for their son to come home, Tom sets sail. Tom agrees, tempted by the offer of money and travel. As their conversation continues, Greenleaf's request transforms: he wants to pay for Tom to sail to Italy and speak with Dickie in person. Greenleaf asks Tom to write to Dickie and ask him to return, suspecting that Tom will have more influence than his parents. Greenleaf is distraught because his son has gone to live in an Italian village and refuses to return home, even though his mother-Herbert Greenleaf's wife-is very ill with leukemia. Herbert is under the impression that Tom and Dickie were once very close, although Tom barely remembers Dickie. One day, Tom is cornered in a bar by Herbert Greenleaf, the wealthy father of his friend Dickie. Tom resents the aunt who raised him in Boston, though he relies on the small checks she sends him. He has many acquaintances but no close friends, and his parents have been dead since he was young. He makes his living by scamming elderly people and artists, but lies to his group of friends, fabricating careers and talents in order to seem accomplished.

Tom Ripley is a secretive, troubled young man in New York.

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith