Sorry ladies and gentlemen: if they liked you, they’d be in touch

I’m tired of us applying labels to a very normal situation

I’ll be brutal: I have never, ever liked someone and not replied to them. Not called them back. Not said yes to going on a date again. Not because I’m ‘always on my phone’, but because when you like someone, you get back to them. You are excited to talk to them. You want to see them. And the same is completely true for men: no matter how hard you try to convince yourself otherwise.

We’re not too busy. We’re just not that interested.

Sure: I’m not saying they hate you if they haven’t replied to your last three messages. Goodness knows I miss stuff sometimes. But they aren’t super into you. They aren’t sitting there thinking about you. They aren’t waiting up in case you text goodnight. And that’s fine! That’s probably healthy if you’ve just started talking: things that get too intense too fast get weird. And usually burn out. But in general, if we know each other, and I haven’t made any plans to see you again, any regular conversation, and I’m not reaching out to you: you’re just someone I know. An aquaintance…