Understanding if the woman you like reciprocates your feelings is not always easy. However, there are a few signs a girl likes you even if she’s trying not to show it.
Dating culture would have you believe that women are mysterious and difficult to understand. We speak in code, and it’s hard to tell if we mean what we say or say what we mean.
The truth is that some women do play games, and we attribute it to her gender rather than to emotional and relational immaturity.
A healthy mature partner isn’t playing games. Most of the time, we’re not even all that subtle when we like someone — even when we’re trying to play it cool.
8 Signs a Girl Likes You But Is Trying Not to Show It
Women aren’t a whole different species from men, gender fluid, or gender binary people.
As we develop emotional intelligence and personal self-awareness, it becomes easier to see the signs that someone is interested — just as it’s easier to tell when they’re just not that into you.
Research has found that romantic love contains three key elements: lust, attraction, and attachment.
If you’re reading her body language and notice signs of all three, you have reason to hope that she’s into you.
Why listen to me? I’m Crystal Jackson and I was a master’s level licensed therapist. I worked with couples and individuals and specialized in trauma recovery and empowerment. I now write content about relationships, self-improvement and psychology. My work has been featured on large publications such as Elite Daily, Your Tango, Positively Positive, Mamamia, and The Good Men Project.
1. When she sees you, she has that big smile she can’t control
One of the main signs a girl likes you but is trying not to show it is the Duchenne smile – that genuine smile she can hardly control.
When she sees you come into a room, she lights up. She has one of those smiles that goes all the way up to her eyes and brightens them.
Even if she immediately looks away after smiling at you like that, you’ve seen her true feelings appear on her face.
Please take note, however: Not all smiles are the same. A small, tight smile could communicate discomfort, not interest.
A smile that forms on her face but doesn’t quite reach her eyes could indicate that she’s just trying to be polite but isn’t really interested.
No matter what her face is doing, keep in mind that a “no, I’m not interested” always means exactly that, even if you would prefer to believe otherwise.
We have created a free pdf file to help you better understand women. Download your free cheat sheet What High-Quality Women Really Want, and learn the five things women really want from a man.
2. She touches you, often
When a woman is interested in someone, she touches them. A lot. The touch is casual, not sexual.
It could be feet meeting under a table, a brush of her hand on yours, a hug that lingers, or even just leaning on your shoulder. This is one that even the most observant of men sometimes miss.
As Michael Morris, therapist and managing editor at Rough and Tumble Gentleman, puts it, “There are a lot of signs a woman is romantically interested in a man, but one is very common, and most women don’t realize they’re doing it even as they do it: physical contact.”
When a woman makes intentional but un-initiated physical contact, that’s usually a strong indicator of desire.
“Touch is an incredibly intimate action and one that our culture doesn’t necessarily encourage, and it’s something that women – for good reason! – don’t do unless they feel comfortable and engaged. If a woman is making an excuse to touch someone, chances are very strong she is interested,” adds Morris.
In my last relationship, I remember doing this, often. Any excuse for contact made me happy, but he seemed oblivious.
Later, after the relationship was established, I noticed a woman doing this to him at a party.
She kept making constant, unnecessary, casual touches while she was talking to him.
He never did notice, but I certainly did as I sipped my drink in amusement. It’s a thing we do, and you’ll see it if you’re paying attention.
Recommended read: Reading Between the Lines: Signs She Wants You to Make a Move
3. She makes eye contact with you
One of the clearest signs a gurl likes you but is trying not to show it is the way she makes eye contact with you. A certain amount of eye contact is just standard and polite and means little to nothing.
If she keeps catching your eye across the room or allowing the eye contact to linger, it could mean that she’s into you and just trying not to show it.
Do you notice that she totally checks you out?
It’s a pretty big clue that she’s at least attracted — but is she interested?
Maybe she’s shy. Maybe she doesn’t think you’re into her.
There are so many reasons why she may not come out and say it, but when her eyes keep seeking out yours, it’s usually a sign that she’s curious at a bare minimum.
4. She tags you in posts
Someone who tags you in posts on social media isn’t trying to hide their connection to you.
In fact, if she keeps tagging you in posts, she’s likely speaking a very particular, modern love language.
I’m not sure if this one will make it into the standard love language styles, but it certainly exists.
Every time she’s tagged you, she’s thought of you. It might be a clue that she likes you.
You’ll just need to find out if she likes you as a friend and treats all her friends this way or if she likes you in a non-platonic and entirely romantic way.
5. She laughs at all your jokes
You might think this isn’t a clue because you’re funny. Not everyone is as funny as they think they are, but even if you’re hilarious, notice which jokes make her laugh. Is it all of them? She might be into you.
No offense, but if someone is laughing at your dumbest jokes, the jokes have either become so dumb they’re actually funny, or the person laughing just likes you too much to be anything but amused.
I hated dad jokes until I fell in love the last time.
Then, they actually made me laugh — not because they’d gotten funnier but because I adored how much he loved them.
Recommended read: When a Woman Needs Space: 10 Signs and What to Do
6. She chooses to sit near you
If she can sit anywhere, but she chooses to sit beside you, that’s a clear sign she likes you.
On the other hand, perhaps the other options were less desirable for some unknown reason. Let’s look at this logically.
- How close did she sit to you?
- Are you touching in any way?
- Is the touching intentional or because the room you’re in has limited space?
- Is her body pointing toward you or away from you?
These questions can help you decide if she sat beside you because someone else had body odor and you smell nice, or if she likes you but hasn’t yet worked up the courage to show it in more obvious ways.
7. She wants you to meet her friends
Does she include you when hanging out with her friends? If she’s got a crush, they’ll know about it.
Notice if they seem to be checking you out. It could be that she wants a little friend approval and support before declaring her intentions.
If she’s had challenging relationships in the past, she may not yet trust her own judgment. She might need her friends to do a quick vibe check to make sure you’re a good, honest person who is worth her time and energy.
If you pass the friend test, you may get shortlisted for a potential relationship.
Remember to download your free cheat sheet What High-Quality Women Really Want.
8. She exposes and touches her neck
As Craig Miller, psychologist and co-founder of Academia Labs LLC, mentions, “When a woman touches her neck, or even just the side of it, and exposes the neck to you while talking to you, then it’s an almost sure sign that she likes you.”
“The neck is a very sensitive area of the body because it has a lot of nerve endings. When a woman touches her neck, it sends pleasurable signals throughout her body. Hence, this is a very common flirtatious act and shows that a woman is attracted to a man,” adds Miller.
Recommended read: How to Tell if a Girl Likes You: 10 Subtle Body Language Signs
Can You Be Absolutely Certain She Likes You?
If you really want to know if she likes you as more than a friend, you may just have to ask.
It’s a simple thing that can be really scary. After all, you risk rejection by putting yourself out there.
You might be afraid to make things awkward or lose the friendship, but here’s something you may not have considered: If you like her but she’s not into you, chances are that you’ve already made things awkward in some way.
At least talking about it allows to establish some boundaries. Women always know when someone likes her. Men will often refer to it as the “friend zone”.
But women do resort to particular behaviors to try to redirect and gently rebuff unwanted attention.
We do this because an outright rejection isn’t just vulnerable from an emotional standpoint. It can be physically dangerous to reject an interested man.
There’s also an element of discomfort in rejecting someone who hints that they like you because they’ve never actually asked if you’re into them.
When one person keeps dropping hints and the other keeps deflecting, something has to give.
In fact, if you’re the interested party, you might want to review the aforementioned list to see if the other person is into you.
If they aren’t, all the things you’re doing to communicate your affection could be making the other person uncomfortable.
However, if these actions are reciprocated, it might be time to take a chance and ask them out or even tell them that you’re interested.
If the gurl you like isn’t into you, it may be time to put yourself in the friend zone, let go of the idea of her, and look for a better relationship fit elsewhere.
Don’t forget to download your free cheat sheet What High-Quality Women Really Want.
Recommended reads:
- How to Tell if a Girl Truly Likes You: 12 Undeniable Signs
- 7 Signs She Regrets Rejecting You & You May Still Have a Shot
- 13 Signs She Loves You According to a Former Therapist
Photo by DESIGNECOLOGIST on Unsplash