His attempt at flirting when he catches Laura picking the apples was pretty creepy, actually. He also comes off as very abrasive during the first half of the movie, even though anybody and their dog would have noticed "Sarah" was going through some pretty heavy personal stuff and backed off a little.
Of course, he needed to be the exact opposite of Martin to compelled Laura to slowly lower her defenses, so we ended up with a carefree spirit who likes to dance and sing like nobody is watching (to be fair, the house next door was empty for all he knew), and boast his job as a Drama Teacher at any given opportunity because a) he is really proud of it b) Laura needs to know this guy does not care about money, status and possesions but choose to follow his dream by teaching the craft he loves.
His poor cooking skills, love of "homey" food and unruly mess of a hair are also there to reinforce the idea that Ben is not obssesive or controlling and does not care for "perfection".
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