Search Results: signs of the shy

I know he liked me in the past but he never asked me out so I grew bored and lost interest. But I like him again now and I have shown signs of interest and flirted back with him so I know he has somewhat of an idea that I’m interested in him. Sometimes, he will be extra flirty and make his interest super obvious but then on other days he seems to avoid eye contact and then at other times it’s like he’s trying so hard to get my attention. He flirts with me more often when I reciprocate and when I act like I’m not interested I notice him looking/stealing glances at me more and showing up to places I’m at to be near me and we will catch each others eye but he doesn’t try to flirt. By flirting I mean he locks eye contact and smiles while gazing at me or trying to talk to me indirectly through a group setting. I cannot tell if he is shy or just playing games because I’m getting so many mixed messages.

I gave obvious hints that I like him, and I’m pretty sure he’s caught on because he’s showing signs of interest as well. Every time I see him he’s either already looking at me and we make eye contact, or he notices me looking and he holds my eye contact for a few seconds and then looks down. He’s also been smiling a lot around me and shows up in places I’m at, walking past me a lot to try to get my attention. He’s also sent a couple of his friends over to talk to me a few times but nowadays they don’t talk to me, they just stare and it seems like they want to talk to me but they don’t say anything. He’s tried to talk to me once and I ignored him completely because I was shy.

Anyways I have a strong sense that he is interested in me, but I’m confused why he hasn’t approached me? He knows I like him so why won’t he just go for it? Is it because he’s messing with me because he likes the attention? (Side note, I know I could approach him but I just don’t want to because I’d rather have him approach me)