Broke from calling late night love lines for advice? Looking for the lowdown on the hoedown when it comes to college guys? Real Live College Guy Sean is here to help you pick apart the mind of the average college guy. Whether it’s avoiding that awkward weekend hook-up or full-on relationship advice, Sean is here to save the day!
I met this guy while working. He got my number and we’ve been texting since then; we text almost every single day. I really like him but I’m not sure if he feels the same. Some of his texts kind of hint at something, but maybe it’s just me. How can I know if he’s into me without necessarily asking him? – Interested at Illinois State
Ah, the classic fairytale of boy-texts-girl. Reading between the lines of a text message can be tricky. I feel like the Disney princesses would have had much harder lives if their princes were texting them. Cinderella in particular would find it hard: “Yo, I found, I mean my roommate found, this glass slipper and we don’t know whose it is. Is it yours? It is? Ok, I’ll bring it with me to the frat party tonight so your skanky sisters don’t steal it… LOL, see you there?”
I’m a huge fan of picking up the phone and calling instead of texting. This way, you’re not only able to enjoy the company of hearing someone’s voice, but you can also use the inflection in their voice to pick up on certain clues. However, there are a handful of ways to tell through texts if he’s into you.
The main way is to pay attention to the time in which he’s texting you. If he texts you when you’re sure he’s with his friends or is out at an event, he’s probably interested in you. A lot of people think that texting during class is a surefire way of telling if he’s into you, but I just don’t see it, really. I tend to text in class out of sheer boredom. However, a sure sign that he’s interested is if he’s texting you late at night and the conversation doesn’t turn sexual. Guys who are looking for a relationship will, for the most part, respect the woman they’re courting. If we’re genuinely interested, we wouldn’t want to screw anything up by asking you what you’re wearing at 11 p.m. on a Friday.
Another good way to figure out if he likes you is to simply be flirty in your texts. Guys won’t go overboard with emoticons, but it’s perfectly fine to throw a winky face into a flirty text to see how he’ll respond. If he laughs at it or even sends one back, it’s a good sign!
In addition, one of the better ways to tell if he’s into you is to see when he tries to make plans. If we guys are interested, we’ll try and make plans to meet up after a while. I personally like to text for a short amount of time, and then meet again in person. If he just keeps texting you but doesn’t make any attempt to meet up with you, he might not be interested.
I know you said you didn’t want to ask him how he feels, but I would still recommend asking him to grab lunch on campus or something. If you have the choice, go to a place that provides ample distractions. If there’s a restaurant near campus with an outdoor patio that overlooks the street, that would be perfect. If you’re there with all those distractions and his eyes and body language are still pointed towards you, he’s probably interested. However, if he at any point calls you “bro” (in a text or in person), he is definitely not interested.
Overall, just look at how considerate he is. He could be flirting just to get a read on you first. If he’s interested, he’ll eventually ask you to do something in person. If you don’t want to wait until then, don’t be afraid to ask him to do something first. In classic RLCG advice fashion, I’ll tell you that men love proactive women!