[kirklancaster]

I don't think Stephanie is a bad person at all and I don't think she is fake or 'acting' either.

I believe that she is an emotionally fragile girl who is genuinely searching for a partner who is sincere, loving, loyal, trustworthy and mature enough and strong enough to take care of her and protect her.

No one knows the true status quo of her 12 months relationship with Sam Reece - it may have been stormy and traumatic - and he has been accused of cheating on her more than once in that 12 months, so perhaps Stephanie WAS in a relationship, but a less than ideal one in which she was secretly miserable.

Why didn't she walk out on it or end it?

Perhaps for the same reason millions of other emotionally fragile women worldwide don't walk out on unfaithfull or even abusive partners; they LOVE them, they WANT want them, they THINK they NEED them, and so when the erring partner promises that "It won't happen again" and they're "Sorry", it does not take much for the abused partner to persuade themselves to forgive and that everything hereafter will be bliss.

As time elapses and the errant partner continually repeats the cheating/abuse, the injured partner - who was emotionally fragile to begin with - loses more and more confidence and self-respect, and suffers in silent misery whilst KNOWING that this partner is no good and this relationship is not the relationship she craved for, and while secretly praying that her ideal partner WILL come along.

I really believe that Stephanie is this type of woman and that she is genuinely attracted to Jeremy McConnell, and is 'caught between a rock and a hard place' as a result, because she dared not 'risk all' if Jeremy was only toying with her, and her trust issues also are huge obstacles.

Jeremy bears some culpability here, because he HAS given her 'mixed messages' - one moment telling her they are 'just friends' and the next doting on her like a lap dog and wanting 'in-bed cuddles' and gropes.

Stephanie is confused, is immature and is not the 'sharpest chisel in the toolbox', but I DO believe that IF Jeremy did commit, she would make her position crystal clear and commit to him, and he would probably end up with the most loving, loyal, adoring girlfriend he had ever had - if her insecurity did not make her 'clinginess' too suffocating.