So you managed to sort through all the millenial dating BS and chance someone you truly like . Only one problem – the relationship seems like it ’s just sort of … stall ? Nothing concrete is add up out of the texts , the endeavour to see each other , the obvious attraction .

mayhap this person is seeing someone else . mayhap they ’re casually date multiple people . In other words , maybe you ’re being keep around " just in case " – benched or serving as backup in causa a front - smuggler does n’t work out .

If you ’ve never been on someone ’s back burner , you ’re favorable . But betting odds are good you know someone else who has . I , for one , have suffered through the shitty position of " just in pillow slip " several times ; and have decided to lay aside my embarrassment over that fact to clue you in on how to tell if you ’re being kept in someone else ’s backlog .

woman on bench

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They rarely follow through

Making plans with a love involvement ? near sign . deficiency of follow - through ? Bad mansion . Sure , some people ’s lives are really busy and tough to work around . And there ’s nomagicnumber of times you should put up being ditched before ditching the someone you ’re so into . But if it ’s a regular thing , it ’s too often .

" Ethan " used to do this to me a lot . We ’d run into each other and talk about how we should advert out . We were patently really attracted to each other . But no matter how many times he said he would call me or meet me or come to my bar , he never did .

I found out later that it was because he " kind of " had a girlfriend . As in , HE HAD A GIRLFRIEND . Which is right smart less complicated to say than how busy he was .

If someone is n’t make prison term for you but keep back you on the chain enough for non - committal flirting , you serve a very rum use : that of accompaniment .

You haven’t met their friends

This one is a crimson flag across the board for so many thing . If the someone you ’re spending so much time with has n’t brought you around their friends , get out . Same if they never want to meet your champion . I ’ve grown to learn if a hombre want to meet my friends and ask round me to hang out with his , he ’s well on his way to being a steward .

Getting to know the masses your collaborator surrounds himself with is essential for gaining brainstorm into who this person reallyis . It matter – and if it ’s not find , you ’re whirl your steering wheel . Worst of all is making exculpation for WHY this is n’t bump . There ’s no excuse : you have n’t met their booster ( or they have n’t met yours ) because he or she does n’t want to .

Maybe because they play someone else around their acquaintance . Maybe because they do n’t desire multitude to make out about you . Maybe because they ’re not sure of you . Every reason boils down to the same thing : what they desire from you is the choice of a plan B.

You text more than you actually do things

Pen chum were great in second mark . And though consistent text edition and phone calls might feel intimate , they ’re not there to replaceactualintimacy . " William " did this to me for quite a long time , combining a manufacture , aloof closeness with making plan and never following through .

You experience why ? Because he also had a girl . And he liked keeping me around and uncommitted for the care I open him , the security that I ’d be there if thing with his lady friend did n’t work out , and the ego slip of having more than one someone infatuated with you .

Yeah . What a rivet .

They actually tell you

Yeah , this seems moderately obvious . But I ’ve lose count of how many hoi polloi ( myself included ) who , even in the face of the true statement , gyrate things in our party favour .

I had a press on a guy once who we ’ll call Alex . The whole coquettish thing was upon us , and we end up going out a few times . Then he tell me about another girl , have ’s call her Jasmine , and that she was " in conclusion unmarried after all this sentence . " Except instead of bailing right then , I prevent seeing him . Even though he pursue Jasmine … and start dating her . Several weeks ( OK , years ) of him proceed to make for games – because he cheated on hera lot– I eventually spring ship and moved to Southeast Asia . Because sometimes you have to make large change to move on from boastful heartbreak .

What was I thinking all that time ? Well , I thought if he really love her he would n’t be seeing me . And if he was seeing me , he was wondering whether I might be a well partner . And I wanted to try out I was – by beingthe cool girl , offering a shoulder , a lay … Listen , if someone you ’re into tells you they ’re into someone else , BELIEVE THEM .

Alex and Jasmine ? marital now .

They constantly emphasize how busy they are

like to the point above , you’re able to be sensibly sure someone is see other people ( or at the very least , not committed to you at all ) if he or she feels the pauperization to constantly show how engaged they are . Someone interact suggestively with you through text edition and speech sound calls who ca n’t be pinned down for anything more than late - night hookups or periodic felicitous minute is in spades not putting you onwards of anything .

I dated a guy I had been friends with for days . He always show interest in more , and eventually we began date .

After a shortly - lived Romance language , this man was suddenly awfully meddling . He had too much going on to see me , or could n’t follow through on architectural plan , but always texted to require how I was – and to cue me of how crazed his lifetime had become . interlingual rendition ? He care the attention and the occasional meet - up / sexual practice . But he was n’t all aboutme . And that meant I had to get out of the office .

Because , quite simply : it ’s a waste of metre to set aside a anteriority to treat you like an option .

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