47 tell-tale signs he’s pretending not to like you

Most of us have been in this situation, where you’re convinced that the guy of your dreams totally doesn’t like you – and it’s driving you crazy.

He’s not answering texts, he’s been acting distant, and he doesn’t seem to want to be around you.

But did you know that he might just be pretending not to like you?

Here are 47 tell-tale signs that he might be faking his feelings for you.

1) He just can’t stop smiling in your company

He pretends not to like you and yet he can’t stop smiling in your company.

If you find his behavior a little confusing, I don’t blame you.

Let me explain:

He may be in denial about his feelings but he can’t hide them from you. It’s obvious that he feels happy and uplifted whenever he is around you.

It’s just impossible for him to keep that smile at bay.

2) He’s always around

Have you noticed that he’s never too busy to be around you?

He always has time for you and is always happy to see you.

It’s obvious that he feels good around you.

And the good news is?

He might not be saying it, but it’s clear from the fact that he is spending so much time with you that he likes being with you.

He’s happiest when he can spend some time with you.

3) He acts casual and nonchalant

This guy sure likes to play it cool.

Whenever he is around you he acts casual and nonchalant.

He really doesn’t want you to see that he likes you.

Now, maybe he’s feeling insecure; maybe he’s not ready for a relationship.

Whatever the reason, he really wants to hide the fact that he likes you from you.

He pretends not to like you but he is overcompensating for his feelings for you by being so casual.

4) He never talks about other women

It would only be natural for him to talk to you about other women, after all, you’re friends. But he never does.

And why do you think that is?

Isn’t it obvious? Because there are no other women!

He only has eyes for you and he doesn’t want you to know.

5) His body language says it all

We all know that communication is about more than just words. Body language speaks volumes and our brains understand body language far better than words.

This is why you can often tell what someone is trying to say even when they are not talking or they can’t put their feelings into words.

You’ll find tell-tale signs he likes you in his body language.

For example:

You’ll be facing each other, talking, and you’ll notice that he’ll lean in close towards you – as though there was an invisible string pulling him towards you.

He may not want to admit that he likes you but you can tell from his body language how he feels.

Now you probably wonder how you can analyze his body language and understand whether it really means that he likes you.

Well, I know professional coaches who can help you decode the hidden meanings of his body language. 

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Their practical solutions helped me catch important signs that I couldn’t have spotted otherwise. 

That’s why I recommend getting in touch with them to receive personalized guidance if you feel he’s pretending not to like you.

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6) He remembers everything you’ve ever said

Have you ever met a guy who remembers everything you’ve ever said with such uncanny precision?

I mean, on the one hand, he pretends not to like you, but on the other, he is just so good at repeating your conversations back to you.

He is consciously or subconsciously memorizing everything you say.

Now, why would he bother to remember all that if he didn’t like you?

It’s as though he doesn’t want to forget anything that you have ever said. He is clearly focusing on you and what you are saying.

If his observations are pretty accurate then there’s no doubt about his feelings for you.

7) He’s hot one minute, cold the next

His emotions often don’t seem to match his actions. He’s all hot and bothered one minute and cold the next.

He pretends not to like you, but his body language is often telling a different story.

He’ll look like he’s going in for a kiss one minute and then change his mind, get up and rush out the next.

It’s like he has his feelings on pause and turns the sentiment off when it’s convenient for him.

He can’t help it – his feelings are all over the place.

8) He’s always laughing around you

Though he may try to hide it, he’s obviously into you because he’s so happy in your company.

He’s always laughing and in a good mood when he’s around you.

What’s more, he’ll laugh at all your jokes – even when you know they’re not that funny.

This is such an obvious sign that he likes you.

9) He’s curious about your life

You intrigue him. He wants to know everything about you and your life.

Not only does he make small talk – asking you what you’re up to and how your day was, but he’s genuinely interested in your hopes and dreams. He wants to know what makes you happy and what makes you sad.

He’s interested in all the details of your life and it seems that nothing you do can surprise him.

10) He shows you how much you mean to him

Though he tries to hide his feelings, his actions are an obvious reflection of his feelings for you

For example:

He’ll casually give you a first edition copy of your favorite book like it’s no big deal and say something like, “I came across this and thought you might like it.”

Or, when you’re sick, he’ll come over and bring you chicken soup. He’ll walk the dogs for you and buy you any groceries you might need.

He’ll act like his actions are no big deal but you’ll know what they mean.

11) He compliments you

On the one hand, he pretends that he’s not interested in you romantically.

On the other hand, he’ll say things like, “You’re so beautiful” or “You’re so smart” or “You’ve got the nicest smile.”

Now, why would he do that if he didn’t like you?

He likes you so much that he can’t help but tell you how great you are.

12) He makes you feel special

He’s a really considerate and thoughtful guy. He’ll try and make you feel special and will put you at the center of everything that he does.

While he tries to pretend that he doesn’t like you, he’ll always do something especially nice for you.

He’ll bring homemade cookies or flowers to your house just so that you don’t have to spend time going out to buy them because he knows that you are tired from work or busy with your friends.

13) He always makes time for you

No matter what he has going on in his life, he’ll always make time for you.

He’ll put his own needs aside and will try his best to make sure that you’re taken care of.

Even if he’s busy with work, family, or friends, he’ll make it a point to find time for you.

Your friendship is one of the most important things in his life.

When you need him, he’ll be there without fail.

14) He keeps sending you mixed signals

He pretends not to like you, but he can’t stop sending you mixed signals.

For example:

He’ll be flirty and affectionate one minute, and the next, he’ll talk about how much he misses his ex.

He obviously likes you but is afraid of taking things further so he keeps sending you mixed signals.

I guess someone needs to figure out what he wants.

15) He tries to make you jealous

This one is so obvious that it’s almost impressive.

Now, instead of telling you that he likes you, he pretends that he doesn’t and he even goes out of his way to try to make you jealous.

Boys. Am I right?

He’ll make a comment about another girl in front of you, he’ll try and get you jealous by saying things like, “You know that I still really like her”, or, “She’s been hot for me since the moment she saw me.” Then he’ll look at you to see how you react.

16) He stutters and blushes when talking to you

You might not notice it because you’re so busy blushing yourself, but he often blushes when he talks to you.

What’s more, he sometimes stutters when talking to you.

When he looks at you, his eyes will be transfixed on you like a deer in the headlights. He’ll look away nervously when he can’t think of anything to say.

This is an obvious sign that he likes you.

Even though he’s a grown man, when he’s around you he acts like a schoolboy in love.

17) His voice changes when he talks to you

This is another really obvious sign that he likes you.

When he talks to you, his voice will start to change.

It will become lower and he’ll start to talk more slowly. It’s pure biology.

You see, he’s trying to sound more manly when he’s talking to you, and he’s probably doing it subconsciously.

18) His eyes don’t lie

They say that eyes are the windows to our soul.

Since he feels that he can’t express his feelings to you verbally, he’ll show you how he feels through his eyes.

He’ll look at you with longing and admiration.

He’ll stare at you when he is worried about something or confused.

When you come into a room, his eyes will dart towards you and then away when he realizes that your eyes are on him.

When you’re with him, he’ll look you up and down while he listens to what you have to say.

He’ll look at your face when he’s listening to what you’re saying so that he can try and read your emotions.

He’ll look at your eyes, then your lips, and then back again.

He’s transfixed by you.

19) He jokes about dating you

Now, you guys are supposed to be just friends.

So he’ll joke about dating you as if it’s the silliest idea in the world. But underneath the joke, you can tell that it’s all serious – he likes you.

You see, he’s using humor to bring up the idea of dating you. That way you can’t reject him, because it was only a joke.

See what he’s doing?

20) He’s nervous and fidgety around you

He doesn’t want to mess it up but he’s really nervous and fidgety when he’s around you. He keeps looking over his shoulder, wanting everyone to go away so that you can talk.

He’ll be constantly wringing his hands and pacing around the room. He’ll look at the floor and fidget with his hands or play with his hair.

He’s acting nervous because he doesn’t want to do or say anything that might mess things up between you two.

21) He picks on you, like a schoolboy trying to get your attention

It’s primary school over again.

He’s trying to get your attention by picking on you.

For example, he’ll make fun of an outfit that you are wearing, or he’ll make some kind of joke about something that you said.

He may even do it in front of your friends just to get a reaction out of you.

He might also call you out for things that he knows will tick you off or upset you – like your temper, or jealousy.

He has a crush on you and will tease you just to get your attention.

This is an obvious – albeit childish – sign that he likes you.

22) He seems jealous when you talk to other guys

Well of course he’s going to be jealous when you talk to other guys – he likes you but doesn’t know what to do about it.

When you’re talking to another guy, he’ll become extra loud and goofy just so that you notice him.

He’ll be nervous and his hands will tremble when you talk with him – because he likes you.

23) He opens up to you emotionally

In my experience, most guys don’t like to talk about their feelings.

Now, if he’s opened up to you, it means that he feels comfortable around you and trusts you enough to share that part of himself with you.

He also knows that you will listen to him and that you won’t ever judge him.

24) He stares at you when he thinks you’re not looking

Men may try and hide it, but they do this when they have a crush on you.

He’ll catch your eye, and then quickly look away like he was “just looking at something else”.

You know he was looking at you, but he’s embarrassed because he doesn’t want to be caught looking at you.

25) He wants to help you with your problems

If he genuinely cares about you, he will want to help you with your problems.

He’ll be there for you when nobody else is – even if that means dropping everything else that he’s doing.

When you’re upset, he’ll be there to listen.

When you’re sad, he’ll be your shoulder to cry on.

He’ll do everything that he can to help you.

If you ask him to do something for you, he’ll do it, no questions asked.

26) He befriends your friends

If he’s really interested in you, he’ll find out everything that he can about you.

He’ll learn about your friends, your family, and your interests. He’ll try and befriend them so that they can tell him more about you.

Now, of course, this could be just a polite thing to do – but in my experience, this is a subtle sign that he’s interested in you.

Befriending your friends is a way of getting closer to you.

27) He looks at you longingly

Because he wants so badly to be with you, even though he won’t admit it, he’ll look at you with such yearning.

He’s like a puppy staring at a bone it’s not allowed to eat…

Maybe he thinks that you’re out of his league – which is why he won’t tell you how he feels.

So instead, all he can do is look at you longingly.

28) His expression is soft when you’re around

Now normally, he’s a bit of a tough guy. It’s like he never got the memo that macho isn’t “in” any longer.

But when he’s around you, his eyes soften and his expression is gentle and he becomes a nice guy.

You simply bring out his softer side.

29) He asks a lot of questions

When a guy is interested in you, he’ll ask you so many questions that it may feel like a police interrogation.

He’ll want to know everything there is to know about you.

You see, he likes that you’re smart, you’re beautiful, and you have everything that he’s looking for in a girlfriend.

Think about it:

When someone doesn’t like someone else, they don’t take such an interest in getting to know them.

30) He makes physical contact “accidentally”

Picture this:

He’s about to walk through a door, but stops and touches you on the arm or back. Sound familiar?

Or, he’ll remove an eyelash from your cheek and ask you to make a wish.

And he may touch your arm or brush your hair from your face while he talks to you.

He may even “accidentally” brush up against you when you both have to squeeze past each other in a narrow space.

It’s clear that his body is drawn to yours because he likes you.

31) His stance is open when he’s talking to you

The position of your body communicates a lot about you, but some stances are more revealing than others

Take for example the open stance: Standing with your weight evenly distributed on both feet signals that you’re approachable and confident.

It also communicates openness and interest in someone.

32) His friends don’t hit on you

If they aren’t hitting on you that means that his friends know that he likes you – and they are respecting his feelings.

They might tease him about liking you but they aren’t going to try to hook up with you because that would mean that he lost his chance with you.

All in all, when friends don’t hit on a girl, it means that they know that she belongs to someone else – and they know it’s pretty serious.

33) He notices the smallest details about you

He notices the smallest details about you – what you do with your hands, how you smile when you’re nervous, and how your hair falls over one eye.

He also notices your shoes, your bag, and all of the little accessories that you wear.

He’s paying so much attention to you because he likes everything about you.

He’ll (often unknowingly) soak up as much information about you as possible.

34) He’s very exceptionally interested in your love life

For a guy that’s not interested in you romantically, he sure does ask a lot of questions about your love life.

He wants to know who you are seeing, where they take you out, if you’ll be seeing them again…

What’s more, he’ll even come out and ask what your date does for a living and how much money your date makes.

Even though he’s pretending not to like you for whatever reason, it’s obviously a competition in his head.

35) He doesn’t think any guy you date is good enough for you

Have you noticed that he never has a nice thing to say about any of the guys you’re dating?

This one is too phony, the last one wasn’t clever enough. The one before him had no sense of humor.

You, see where I’m going with this?

In his eyes, no guy is good enough for you because the guy you should be with is – well – him.

It just pains him to see you with other guys.

36) He sometimes acts weird around you

Sometimes he’s hard to read, and at other times, he doesn’t make sense.

He might say awkward things that he thinks are funny but that you don’t get.

Let me explain.

He’s weird around you because he’s nervous and trying to figure out what to do. He can’t help it, because he likes you so much that he doesn’t know how to react around you anymore.

37) People think he’s your boyfriend

People often assume that he’s your boyfriend.

You’re always together and there’s obvious chemistry between you – and it’s not just one-sided.

Your friends and family think that you two are a couple because you seem so close – even though you’ve denied it many times. The same thing happens with people you’ve just met, they assume you’re together.

38) He helps you

Now, this guy’s there for you. He’ll go out of his way to help you with whatever you need a hand with.

From giving you advice on work-related issues to helping you carry your heavy shopping bags.

He’ll also try and help with issues he knows nothing about because he wants to be your hero.

39) He cares what he looks like when you’re around

This guy sure loves to dress up and look good for you.

Every time you see him, he’s dressed up in a way that makes you say, “wow”. It’s obvious that he likes dressing up for you because even his friends say things like, “Dressing up for your girl I see.”

The fact that he dresses up for no apparent reason other than to look good for you is another sure-fire sign that he’s pretending not to like you.

40) He likes to keep a distance between you

It’s like he doesn’t trust himself to sit close to you or touch you.

He doesn’t want you to know how much he likes you – or that he’s in love with you.

He wants to keep his feelings hidden because he’s worried that you don’t feel the same way.

41) He’s always texting you

When he’s not around, you can be sure that he’ll be in touch with you.

Doesn’t matter whether it’s morning, noon, or night, he’ll be checking in.

He’ll text you to see what you’re up to, to ask for a recipe, or to tell you who he just ran into…

He’s desperate for a response from you so if you don’t reply within an hour, you can expect him to call to make sure you’re ok.

42) His friends know it

Even though he pretends he doesn’t like you, his friends can tell that he’s got a crush on you.

They are the people that know him best, so they get an inside scoop on his emotions.

He may think he has them fooled, but they know.

43) Your friends know it

I mean come on, it’s so obvious that he likes you it’s not even funny.

All your friends know that he’s interested in you.

If it’s obvious to his friends and your friends, then there’s surely no doubt in your mind.

Your friends get a kick out of watching him pretend not to care. They know that one day, he won’t be able to hold himself back any longer.

44) He’s desperate for your approval

He respects you and he really values your opinion. So your approval means the world to him.

It doesn’t really matter whether it’s something he said or did or is planning to do, he desperately needs you to pat him on the back and say, “well done”, “good idea”, “atta boy”.

He’s so insecure that he needs your approval to make him feel good about himself.

And he hopes that if he gets your approval, you’ll start to like him. He hopes that you’ll see his efforts, and then start to sympathize with him.

45) He cares about your friendship

One of the most obvious signs that he likes you is that he’s all about your friendship.

He doesn’t want to ruin it, he doesn’t want to do anything that might jeopardize it. He really cares about your friendship and he wants it to last forever.

When you’re around him you feel so comfortable – like you do with your best friend or family.

You never get the feeling that there is something wrong or that something is off.

You feel safe when you are with him. He’s just so easy-going and fun to be around.

46) He likes to make you laugh

Another tell-tale sign that he likes you is that he wants to make you laugh.

Now, he’ll make politically incorrect jokes or silly dad jokes, anything just to get you to laugh.

He just adores watching that smile spread across your face.

He’ll even laugh at his own expense just because he likes making you laugh.

It’s an obvious sign of his affection for you.

47) His friends call you his girl

Finally, if his friends call you his girl, they’re obviously onto something.

He may deny it but you know that they’re right. They always say, “Hey where’s your girl?” or “Good, you brought your girl with you today.”

They’ve probably been hearing about you for ages and have analyzed the way he talks about you and how much time he spends with you.

Not only do they know that he likes you, but so does everyone else who knows him well.

It’s not a secret – his friends have been telling people that he is your guy for ages now.

So why is he pretending?

Is he interested in someone else? Is he just not that into you?

The truth is: he likes you. He just doesn’t know how to show it.

He has a lot of different emotions going on and no idea how to deal with them. Fear, excitement, nervousness… you name it!

He can’t help it if he acts weird when you’re around.

So what can you do to resolve this?

Well, there’s a new concept in the relationship world called the Hero Instinct. It generates a lot of buzz at the moment as a way to explain what really drives men in relationships.

You see, when you trigger a man’s hero instinct, all his emotional walls come down. He feels better in himself and he naturally begins to associate those good feelings with you. As soon as that happens, he’ll also stop pretending not to like you.

And it’s all down to knowing how to trigger these innate drivers that motivate men to love, commit, and protect.

So if you’re ready to take your relationship to that level with this guy, be sure to check out James Bauer’s incredible advice.

Click here to watch his excellent free video.