Mirroring could still be relevant. You may think you are not overly affectionate. And maybe you arn't relative to the majority. But what matters is how HE saw you. We all have the misguided ability to project our own inner image of a perfect significant other onto a person who who actually exhibits just a few of those traits. Then we act and hope like they are the whole real deal... . at least for awhile.
Spot on... . I think we were both caught up in the happiness of the idealization phase. I felt the butterflies, heart-melt more than I've ever felt with any other. I think this made me ignore a lot of his red flags and I just projected on how I wanted him to be. He mirrored back that projection for a while and then gave up, I guess. Now, he's back to being EXTREMELY harsh and immature.