When a woman has a crush on a man, she often drops subtle, cute hints rather than confessing directly. Unfortunately, many men miss these clues due to social conditioning. On Reddit, user u/Jason-iscool asked, “Women of Reddit, what hints have you given to your crush that they missed?” Thousands of women chimed in with their sweet and hilarious stories.
From baking cookies to outright invitations, women shared the subtle “hints” they left for their crushes. When these obvious clues went unnoticed, it often resulted in hilariously awkward encounters. Here are 20 of the funniest stories.
1. When she helps you with the cooking
My mother-in-law met my father-in-law when they both worked at a pizza place as teenagers. She was really into him so she’d go in on her nights off ‘to help slice tomatoes and onions’ and dropped hints to him for MONTHS but he never picked up on any of it. One night she’d brought Hershey kisses and went to put them in the cooler, and asked if he’d like his kisses cold. He said ‘Actually, I prefer warm kisses,’ so she said ‘Okay,’ and kissed him. That was when he realized she liked him. She blushes when she tells the story, as she admits that was very unlike her but her gut said to go for it. They’ve been married for 40 years. – u/nikkomus
2. When she snuggles with you at a movie
We snuggled all night watching a movie together. Then, when he went to leave, I tried to kiss him goodbye, but he rejected and drove away. Dejected, I went back to my room to sulk. He calls me 10 minutes later asking to meet me outside. I get outside and he shouts in disbelief, “Wait, were you trying to kiss me? Does that mean you like me?” – u/changminny.
3. When she flirts with you in a bar
I bartended and I waved the tab of a regular and when I told him his drinks were on me- he made the joke, “Bet you say that to all the pretty girls.” I said, “Drinks are only waved for hot people the bartender has a crush on,” and he looked so confused and said he was “honored to be the exception to that rule.” – u/littlebluebird555
4. When she asks you for a kiss
I once asked a guy if I could kiss him (we had been hanging out in a way that was conducive to that) and he said yes. I kissed him. It was great. But then we just parted ways in a natural way. Three days later, this man calls me all shocked that I was hitting on him. He told a friend about the interaction and they had to point it out. Sir… I literally kissed you. – u/imfiremario.
5. When she invites you to an event
Not a woman, but a girl I worked with had given hints, such as hugging me sometimes. One day, we were discussing the state fair, which was coming up. Here’s the following conversation.
Her: The state fair’s coming up. I love the state fair!
Me: Yeah, me too!
Her: I really wish I had someone to go with.
Me: Yeah, same.
Her: …
Me: …Well, good luck! I hope you find somebody to go with!
I have worn the crown as the Lord of Idiots. – u/djd33j
6. When she asks you out on a date
“Hey, I really like you. Wanna go out on a date some time?” This man thought I was joking. It wasn’t until he talked about it with his friends that they made him see what I thought was a pretty direct hint – u/imgursextraupvote
7. When she asks you to accompany her to the prom
I literally asked him to prom and he said yes. Ten minutes later he asks me if his friends can come too. – u/dry_adeptness5405
8. When she invites you on a coffee date
Literally two weeks ago, I invited my crush to go to for a coffee date and walk along the beach which I thought was the most obvious date arrangement. I got there first and even texted him what his coffee order was so it was ready when he got there. We sat super close on the coffee bar, had good conversation and I kept leaning into him, laughing at all his jokes. 20 mins into the cute coffee date he saw two of his friends come in and grab a coffee and were going for a walk and so he invited them to walk with us from the coffee show. Little did I know, I would be fourth wheeling for an hour long walk on our first date, listening to the three boys talking about sport somehow. We got back to our cars after the walk and I gave him a lingering hug goodbye before he went back to his friends to chat again. A week later he texted me to ask if I wanted to ‘Come for a coffee and walk with him and the boys’. I THINK I’M ONE OF THE BOYS NOW. LOL. – u/ennstarrr
9. When she insists on sharing a blanket
My now wife and I were at a friends for a kick back. It was time to go to bed and we were not going to drive home as we both had a drink or two. There was only one blanket. I let her have the blanket and the bigger couch. It took an hour for me to understand that she kept offering to share the blanket and the biggest couch in a non platonic way. I kept saying it was fine and I was comfortable where I was. If she had given up and stopped trying to convince me that we could share the blanket, I would have no idea where we would be lmao. – u/ubertwinkle
10. When she secretly glances sideways at you
Had this happen at a concert I played at. Background vocalist was crushing on the synth player and glanced at him during a riff. He turned to me nearly in tears and went, “She knows I played that wrong. I forgot to turn off the transpose.” She then looked at him again and he went, “Oh no, she must think I suck.” He left without even looking her way and then the next day, she told me, “I don’t think he likes me I looked at him and he put his head down and walked away.” – u/datdominican
11. When she asks you about her looks
Not sure if he missed it or he straight up curved me. I recently got new glasses and I was asking everyone’s opinion on them, so I sent him a pic of me wearing the glasses and a very short, tight, red crop top…he just said, “I’ll check it out later.” – u/glad-paramedic-6888
12. When she asks you to show her the stars
After I met my now husband, one time I bumped into him on his run. I came to say hi and he said he went on a run to see the stars, because they were very visible that day and there was some rare event. So naturally, I was like, “Wow I have to see, can you show me?”
Him: Not much too see actually
Me: Ok, but still, can you at least show me good spot for watching
Him: I don’t think my spot is that special. I’m gonna go so good luck with the star gazing.
Welp, after that it was very hard to convince me he was into me, because I was sure, he was just making fun out of the fact that I am so obviously into him. – u/legal-reach-question
13. When she asks you to teach her something
We were in a youth camp and he knew how to play pool, I didn’t know how to play pool so I asked him to teach me, so I had him for 5 days of that camp, teaching me how to hold the cue stick and how to hit the balls. One night the camp leaders sent us to sleep early, but many of the young campers taking advantage of the fact that the leaders were asleep threw a party, my crush went to play pool and I went down in my pajamas (t-shirt and shorts) to play with him, I already understood how to play but I started to use the cue stick wrong so that he could help me hold it better from behind. I was there for an hour until the leaders discovered everything and sent us to sleep. I always was the most obvious person on the planet, I didn’t know how to hide how much I liked him but 2 years later, in 2018 I told him that I was in love with him and he looked surprised, he told me that he didn’t know that I liked him… when I told my friends they didn’t know whether to make fun of him or hit him. – u/messy_heart_97
14. When she dresses in sexy clothes
Once I surprised my husband, by wearing fancy lingerie when he came home. I told him I left a surprise in the fridge for him, and said flirtily that I was going upstairs to the bedroom. I waited… and waited… and… waited. Came downstairs to see what the delay was…My husband saw a can of whipped cream with a winky face on it, thought “What a treat!” cut up some strawberries to eat with it, and was sitting on the couch happily playing a video game and eating his whipped cream and strawberries. – u/quartzmaya
15. When she offers her help in finding something
My roommates and I received a plate of cookies from our neighbor. Two days later, after a night out at the bars, she asked my roommate for the plate back. The conversation went as follows: Her: Can I get that plate back? Him: I don’t know where it is. Her: Can we look for it? Maybe it’s in your bed. Him: I think I’d know if there was a plate in my bed. Her: (silence and confused looks) We still laugh about it to this day. – u/purdue_chip
16. When she asks to join in your volunteering
I once went to the store after a volunteer shift (I work with animals in my free time so I was in uniform) and the really cute cashier started asking me all about it. She was interested in joining and all that. Like 5 minutes of talking. She asked for contact info, so of course I have her my 75 year old bosses email. Few weeks later, I run into her again and basically the same thing happens, she still hadn’t reached out to my boss, but I tell her she be a great fit and it would be nice working with her. Rinse and repeat for the 3rd time and I still didn’t get it. I finally realized after she quit what was going on. – u/sonofnothing93
17. When she invites you to her house
I looked back on my younger years and missed slot of ques. For example, met girl in psychology class and we studied hung out etc. One day out of the blue she asked to come over to my house, I said ok. She gets there we having laughs then she wants to take shots, and just any shots body shots … lol needless to say I didn’t get the signs and asked of she wanted McDonald’s hahah! – u/omnigear
18. When she bakes cookies for you
So this was a few years ago. I was talking to my friend, and we made plans to go on a walk around the park because it was chill and a good way to forget about college crap going on. We got there, and she just said out of nowhere: “Oh, I made you some cookies. I remembered you saying they were your favorite” And I was like, “Hell yeah. I got cookies.” Turns out she was into me. Took me months to figure out, but it worked out. We get married next year. – u/taco_monkey_0
19. When she asks you about your plans
We were walking out of work together and I said “What’re you doing tonight?” to which he responded, “Probably just going to get a beer down the street.” I replied, “Oh, that sounds like fun. I have no plans and I’m hungry, I don’t know what I’m going to do.” He responded: “Oh, well, good luck with that!” And got in his car and drove away. I later asked him what happened that night, and he said he sat alone at the bar freaking out, wondering if that was a hint or not. This was nearly 4 years ago, and we’re getting married this September. – u/joashro
20. When she compliments your looks
I still remember in college a female student lamenting to me how hard it is to find dates with nice decent guys who treat you like the way you treat women. So I suggested some guys we both knew. She said things like no, someone more your height, your hair color, etc. I kept thinking geez I am probably like the only guy on this planet that fits the bill. Anyway I dropped her off, I hear her say, ‘oh Jesus Christ’ as she slams my car door. A year later it was like, oh she meant me ask her out. I don’t have a lot of regret over it. She could have just come out and suggested it instead of playing 21 questions. – u/carljustcarl
