Boyfriend’s Bedroom Mannerisms Remind Girl Fondly Of Stepfather

Story by Jacob Zlomke 

| Published Nov 17, 2009

Ellen Mayfield said she had some reservations about inviting her boyfriend, Justin Harding, to her apartment to stay for the first time.

“There is all this anxiety and pressure,” Mayfield said. “Like, are we going to click? How awkward is it going to be? Will he live up to my expectations? You know, the kind of stuff every couple goes through.”

The first time she did ask Harding to spend the night, though, Mayfield said everything felt like it would be OK. She said he was dropping her off at her home after their weekly date night.

“As he leaned in to hug me goodbye, I stopped him and asked if he wanted to stay over since my roommate was out of town,” Mayfield said.

Harding expressed his excitement in being invited in.

“It was surprising but really awesome,” he said. “I mean, I’d been waiting for like a week to get inside her apartment, and the fact that it was finally going to happen was just very surreal.”

Harding said he did not feel any anxiety or pressure. He was not even nervous, he said.

“I really just wanted to get in and tear shit up. Like any guy would,” Harding said, “and it must have gone well because I’ve slept over there three nights this week.”

Mayfield said the experience was more than she could have hoped for. She said they clicked in a way she had never thought would be possible for her since her last serious relationship ended seven years ago.

“My stepfather moved in when I was about ten. We were very close by the time I turned eleven,” Mayfield said. “I mean, I just grew very fond of him and the way he took care of me. I didn’t think I’d ever meet someone that knew how to handle me the way he did.”

Mayfield said, though, that contrary to her expectations, Harding’s behavior in the ordeal was very similar to her stepfather’s.

“He was in control the whole night. He decided what we would do, when we would do it and for how long,” Mayfield said. “It was just so refreshing to meet a guy that knew his way around me like my stepfather did.”

Mayfield said her relationship with her stepfather abruptly ended two years after its start, when he was taken to prison.

“I was kind of young, so I never really did understand the entire situation,” Mayfield said, “but I think my mom got jealous. At first, she was happy to see us get along so well. But then he started spending more and more time with me and even leaving her and coming into my room late at night. I think it probably just ate away at her to know that I was more fun to be around than she was.”

“It seemed to go really well,” Harding said, “but she called me Jim a couple of times and said that it was so good to be back in my arms. I thought she was trying to make me mad or something, but I said I didn’t care as long as I got to keep coming over.”

Mayfield said it was that aloofness and apathy that attracted her to her stepfather and Harding.

“There’s just something about a guy who doesn’t care,” she said. “My stepfather would hardly even talk to me or look at me during the day or while my mother was around, but at night and during afternoons when she had to work late, he came alive for about 15 minutes at a time. And that’s when we got close.”

Mayfield said she is going to continue inviting Harding back with her, at least until her stepfather is released from prison.