Sure, he could have been a jerk to his partner and refused the courtesy of helping the lawyer prepare for oral argument before SCOTUS, something only a handful of lawyers really know how to do.
One thing I can easily see about Roberts is he isn't a jerk.
What is being a jerk? He wouldn;t have to moon the guy while doing it. One would think that Roberts' views and philosophies would be well known to the other partners. I would see the jerky behavior in coming to Roberts for help on a case you would know that he found incompatible with his philosophy.
So either the other partner was a jerk or the other partner knew that the arguments presented in Romer did not conflict with Roberts' judicial philosophy.