When a guy drops indirect or subtle hints that he's interested in a lady, what does he expect?

[stillagoodgirl]

For her to respond by showing direct signs of interest like by straight up asking him out or telling him he's good looking?

I never take it seriously unless the guy is hella direct and asks for my phone number. I jus think to myself oh no he doesn't like me like that or else he'd be more assertive. I only have doubt that a guy I find attractive won't be attracted to me caz I've had bad experiences with that, so I wouldn't say its a self esteem problem.

And now I think my kinda new guy friend likes me but I can't be sure since he's not aggressive or all over me like a stranger that hits on me is.

Updates

+1 y

Turns out he did like me but wasn't direct really haha. It kinda messed up the friendship when I found out caz it freaked me out.

[TedStar]

We want you to acknowledge those signs and either return positive signs ( smiling, eye contact, touching, spending more time with us, laughing at our jokes, giving only us your attention when in a group setting . texting us a lot especially at night or weekends) or negative signs (avoiding us, not smiling, acknowledging us but treating us no different to anyone else in the group or communicating less. not touching us and making an effort to do so. keeping our convos short and to the point via one word answers etc )

The important thing with subtle/indirect signs is your reaction. Ideally we want either signs of interest or signs of disinterest. If you sense our signs it is very important to not be indifferent or to ignore them. We either want the green light or the red light. Don't give us amber

[stillagoodgirl]

Ohh I tend to think they're mind readers but ehhh I don't like to touch I feel I'm invading their personal space.

[JSmuve]

The other two people below me are spot on. If a guy's dropping subtle hints, he wants reassurance that if he proceeds and ramps up his efforts that he won't drive into a brick wall. So if you're interested, you have to do some flirting back in order to give him the green light.

[Anonymous]

Well it'd help him out to know you're interested in him too. The hints are tests to see if he should go all in and ask you out. Dip your toe in the water before diving in. Even if you're unsure the least you can do is try.

[Anonymous]

He might just like you as a friend