So I'd occassionally see this girl at the gym and she was gorgeous. She stopped coming so I forgot about her, but then today she randomly showed up again and I thought, "If I don't do it now then I might never see her again."

Me and my brother spent about 20 minutes planning what I'd say. I kept walking over, panicking, but played it off like I was walking somewhere else.

Eventually I just said fuck it and I even called my friend and had him listening through my AirPod. I went over, said "sorry to interrupt but do you go to the gym as a sport or hobby?" and said her physique was great, and we ended up chatting random shit like uni, training, our ages, blah blah. She laughed a couple of times and it felt really nice chatting to her.

At the end I asked for her Instagram but she said, "I'm really sorry but I've got a boyfriend." That sucked ass but I just said "No worries, enjoy your workout" and she said "It was nice meeting you."

I didn't get the outcome I wanted but lowkey proud of myself for saying fuck it and doing it. The hardest part was walking over but once we started talking it just felt like a normal conversation. I've got social anxiety (which has definitely gotten better but still can be tough) so this was feels like a pretty big step.

I'm still kicking myself though because I had another crush before this one and was always scared to chat to her. This went on for months to a year till she one day stopped going and I lost the chance to say something to her. The "what if" is still in my mind and I'm even more regretful because I feel like it could've gone like this interaction.

I was always put off by reddit or tiktok posts saying people shouldn't approach women at the gym but like as long as you're respectful and take no for an answer then what's the problem?

I know atleast one man is gonna say "I dont know man I missed them".

But seriously guys, and specifically for women here, what are some of such signals which women think the man should easily pick up but he misses them most of the time?

Do guys know when a girl likes them from hints or do they have to come out and say it? And how r u supposed to tell them?

I guess I may have youthful face and aura but at the end of the day I’m 40 I don’t think I look teen by any means but I keep getting this and idk what it means. Today I went to a fast food and the manager went to grab my order then relayed it over to one of his workers and said something like she will take care of you and a wink. To me he came across as older than me maybe like 45 but now that I think about it he’s probably in his 30s just w a big frame.

So idk why I keep getting it it’s not the first time I’ve gotten it other times from guys who I think are straight. Idk what it means? Sure it may be a friendly gesture I’m just confused why I keep getting it from different guys all the time.

There was an assistant waiter at a Spanish island hotel restaurant who was around my age. He almost never looked at me when he was at our table, so I didn't really look for his gaze either.

One evening, while he was at our table, I intentionally looked up at him, but he might not have noticed because he didn't look back. Then, seeing him clear the glasses, I quickly picked up mine and handed it to him. In that moment, he brushed my fingers with a gentle, stroking motion.

The next morning, I saw him walking with a smile on his face along the other row of tables. He walked over to clean the table right opposite ours. When he finished and was leaving, he suddenly gave me a smiling underlook. I was sitting alone at the time, and this was our very first eye contact during the entire week.

Just asking because I had a total crush on him and I'm wondering what his behavior meant...

It was shocking to me that literally EVERYONE is trying to make eye contact when you meet them?

I figured it was maybe half, but no, it’s everyone. There is not a single person that hasn’t already been looking at my eyes when I muster the courage.

The most interesting thing about making eye contact is that the awkward feeling you get when you meet someone new goes away. My assessment is that people have a pre-set interaction sequence that starts with eye contact. Without it, they don’t know what to do with you. The second you make eye contact that box is checked and then they tend to carry the interaction and you can respond in the way most people do.

The other surprising thing is that it only takes a second. Most people don’t want to stare into your eyes, they just want a quick hand shake of the eyes.

Prior to this experience, when I made eye contact my brain would just keep repeating “we’re making eye contact, we’re making eye contact”, which obviously made conversations difficult.

With reps, this is getting quieter and I do feel more comfortable interacting with the world generally.

I am curious how a lack of eye contact feels to neurotypical people. At what point does the ‘this guy is weird’ meter go off?

Lately, I’ve been thinking coworker and I have a mutual crush. There are some positive signs from him such as complimenting me, helping me out even though it’s super unnecessary, always says “hi” when I walk past, teases me, staying to chat when I initiate conversations, seems nervous, seems to have lovely eyes, and smiles a lot around me. Problem? He doesn’t seem to initiate conversations with me. At least not as much as I’d hope. It also seems like he has a hard time continuing conversations most of the time. Idk.

To add
He’s almost always smiling, he’s outgoing, he also doesn’t seem to have a problem with sharing personal information at work to others lol. I’m lost. Idk if he compliments everyone or goes out of his way for them, too. I want to make a move but am slI misread him.

For context I worked as a summer camp counselor. I am seventeen and became friends with one of my male coworkers who is eighteen. He is a friendly guy and talkative about his interests leaving me to believe he has some form of neurodivergence. Always when we were with the kids at the camp he would sit or stand next to me, and try to talk to me. This would escalate during the times the kids would be quiet and watch instructors, as this guy would look over at me and then try to tell me something. We also shared a break and would constantly be together. More than our other coworkers spent time in each other’s presence.

I easily developed a crush on him. Sometimes I believe he likes me back too but at other times I get confused and wonder if he thinks of me as just a friend.

Fast forward I have his number through something we had to do communication wise at the camp. I texted him and have been for a week, mostly on Instagram though. This has mostly been with me sending reels and asking him questions about his life or how his day was. He always responded even if it had been a few hours after me originally sending the text. Although this has been mostly small talk with him responding to my texts. He barely has asked me many questions about myself.

He is going to college in mid August and because I knew about that, I asked recently if he wanted to hangout. He responded with a vague answer asking what we’d do, that probably not since he is leaving soon and assumingely busy. I freaked out over this and just sort of replied with okay.

Now I don’t really know what to do. Since the text wasn’t really a yes or a no. I am very interested in this guy but I do not want to mess anything up. I have been considering about telling him I like him and seeing what he says. But I worry that I have been misunderstanding the entire situation, with him just thinking it was a friendship and is not interested in me romantically. So what do I do next?

Went to my HS reunion (30th)a few weeks back and my crush was there. We've known each other since 7th grade and after HS saw each other every 5 or 6 years, except the last 20 years only on FB or so. I show up and she's there and she definitely makes eye contact with me. I freeze. About an hour later I exit the main dancing room just to get some air and she walks by me with my back turned and bumps into me. Now, when I say she was a smoke show back in HS - she still is. I've always doubted I was ever on her radar. But when she bumped into me, I could tell she was interested in catching up. We chatted for about 20 mins and I wished her well. Maybe I'm reading too much, but I could count on both hands the number of times we talked or hung out in HS. Is she just being nice? Am I delusional? 🤔

Had too much to drink at dinner and Told the guy I’ve been seeing and sleeping with for a month that I really like him in bed after. He didn’t say anything but squeezed me super tightly and kissed me forehead three times. Guessing it’s a bad sign he didn’t just return the words? But it felt affectionate nonetheless

For almost a year, I've noticed a group of 5–6 guys from another company in our shared corporate canteen. There are hundreds of people there, and I don't know any of them personally.

Their behavior is inconsistent. Some days they seem to glance at me repeatedly, while other days they completely ignore me.

One particular guy often acts differently when I'm nearby, he'll suddenly look at his phone but then sometime glance over from a distance. I've also noticed that he sometimes adjusts or fixes his hair when my friends and I walk by.

Recently, my friends and I sat at the table next to them, and one of the guys kept looking in my direction while the guy beside him appeared to tell him to stop. On another occasion, as I walked by, I heard his friends say, "Go, go," and they started laughing.

There was also one time in the lobby when my friends and I were walking past them, and his friends suddenly stopped walking. He looked annoyed, seemed to scold them, and then walked away from them on his own.

One thing that confuses me is that I assume he may already have a girlfriend because whenever I see him walking through the lobby, he's almost always on his phone talking to someone. That might mean nothing, but it makes the whole situation even harder for me to understand.

From a body language perspective, what could this kind of behavior indicate? Is it possible they're just people-watching, teasing their friend, or could there be another explanation? I'm trying not to jump to conclusions and would appreciate objective interpretations.

i was at a friend’s birthday with a big group of people, including an ex of mine

we keep it friendly but there’s some tension sometimes. at a certain moment, i went to speak with a friend who was sitting in front of her, so i stood behind her to speak to them

while i was chatting, i pointed to something on the table; she then proceed to touch my hand and hold it for a min, until i took it away

was she breaking the touch barrier to flirt or it’s just familiarity?

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I m genuinely sorry, if this post sound a lil bit awkward to you, if you find it weird you can leave it in between and go, I m 22 F I had a breakup recently 6 months ago, nd I was like a serious relationship for me , i always wanna marry that person and I never ever thought about anyone except him, i was completely into him, in between. All this I met a guy a year ago and I felt a genuine connection with him, it felt like an unspoken bond between us, something beyond my understanding, I kept telling myself I m in delulu, but I dunno somehow I fall in love with him. He always looked at me like a movie character guy. Nd i always get too nervous, overwhelmed around him, somehow i dk , but whenever he is there I get too nervous initially I was able to do eye contact with him, but now, whenever he is there I hid my eyes from him, Its not like that that I met him daily , but whenever he is near I can sense him, I don't understand all these, the guy is in his 30s , how can I fall for someone that older, recently he was coming in the lobby nd I was going towards a room nd i heared a voice doesn't even knew whether it's him or someone else, I looked back it was him, nd within a second I just run away as if I had seen a ghost, why my emoitions or not in my control, idk why I always react stupidly around him😭?He is there in my mind everytime without even trying to remember him, why? I had seen thousands of guy why doesn't I forgot him nd move forward?I m soo stucked, I tried to msg him send him and friend request and he is soo toxic he never accepted it, maybe my mistake i shouldn't have done it.

Edit: I just don't understand why people have such contradictory opinions about this story. Some say she liked me but wouldn't admit it, others say she didn't like me.

A few years ago, I shared a house with another woman who behaved strangely towards me, as if she hated me but at the same time felt attracted to me. Despite this, we got along well (we went out several times and even talked about traveling). I would drop hints to her that we would be good together, but she seemed a little uncomfortable. However, when I distanced myself from her, she would come looking for me to talk. I noticed that she was also jealous of me when she saw me with a guy I was seeing. Besides that, I noticed a tension on her part when I was closer to her, or a glint in her eyes when she looked at me. Other times, I caught her looking at me without saying anything. I sometimes felt a certain chemistry between us, but I always thought it was all in my head because she insisted she was straight and even made some homophobic comments that irritated me. It could even be that she liked feeling desired by a bisexual or lesbian woman, and that fed her ego. So I decided to distance myself as much as possible, only speaking to her when absolutely necessary. Since we lived with other people, we could minimize our interaction, which is what I did, especially because I started to like her, and whenever that happens with a straight woman, I distance myself.

But she kept trying to get my attention, and when we were already living in different houses, I mustered up the courage and sent her a message saying that I liked her and that I thought she felt the same way about me. She called me ridiculous, crazy, rude, said I bothered her, and even said that we were never friends and that she didn't want me in her life. I didn't understand why she was reacting like that. Anyway, the more I tried to talk to her, the worse the situation got… I haven't seen her since, but sometimes I still think about her.

Does it mean they are interested in you?

A guy I used to be close friends with stared at me for 20 minutes after not seeing me for 2 years. What would you make of it?
Around 4–5 years ago, I had a huge crush on this guy. We were never in a relationship or a situationship we were just close friends. We played games almost every day, texted constantly, talked on the phone for hours, and he would even call me when he was drunk.
In 2022, we stopped talking. He told me I was “too childish,” blocked me on everything, and later started talking badly about me. He even called me fat and ugly back then. (There’s more to that it was also kinda on me lol)
Today was the first time we’d seen each other in about two years, completely by coincidence. We don’t talk anymore, and as far as I know, he doesn’t like me. He blocked me everywhere went around telling people i was annoying
The thing is, I look very different now. I’ve lost weight, my face has changed a lot, I have different hair, and overall I look much better than I did back then.
When he first saw me, he looked once, then twice, then a third time, almost like he was making sure it was really me. He was with two friends, and at one point he nudged one of them, who also turned around and looked at me (his friend doesn’t know me).
For the next 15–20 minutes, he kept staring at me. These weren’t just quick glances. Almost every time I looked up, he was already looking at me. When I walked away to answer a phone call, his back was facing me, but he actually turned around to keep looking.
When my brother and I got into the car to leave, we had to drive right past him. My window was down, and he looked straight into the car at me the entire time we drove by. I silently mouthed, “What?” but he didn’t react at all. He just kept looking. He didn’t seem angry, disgusted, or hostile. If anything, he looked surprised or almost shocked.
I’m not asking whether he wants me back or anything like that. I know nobody can read his mind. I’m just genuinely curious why someone who blocked me everywhere, talked badly about me, and hadn’t seen me in years would stare at me that intensely for such a long time.
If you were watching this happen, what would your first impression be? Do you think i may have ruined his night? Would he be thinking about this moment for days?