Guys, I'm going to level with you. Clicking on this article was the first step to emotional availability and an eternally fulfilling relationship. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a tad, but you're in the right place, for sure.

As such, I've got some tea to spill. Are you comfortably sat down? Because I'm about to rock your world.

1. Girls aren't as complicated as you like to think we are

2. We are just as confused by your messages as you are about ours

In short – no one has the foggiest how to flirt in this day and age.

But we're all blindly stumbling through together trying to form connections and bump uglies. Sorry, that noughties slang was unwarranted, but I wanted to see if it had aged well. Suffice it to say, it hadn't.

Having a significant other is great. Having great friends is also fabulous. In short, having people that love you is like drinking hot chocolate and watching Friends reruns. You feel all warm and toasty inside and can probably feel your heart lurching forward and growing three sizes. Affirmations of love are the best things since sliced bread, but the really surprising fact remains that they don't even need to cost a penny. You don't even need to spend hours planning!

At its crux, the words 'I love you' serve to express and remind ourselves that we are both capable of loving another person and that we are ourselves loved. It's like killing two emotionally distressed birds with one cupid's arrow. Okay, the metaphor got a little tangled, but you get my drift.

But, to get to that phase, you have to allow for a certain level of emotional negotiation and cringe pick up lines that you aren't really sure should see the light of day outside of Grease 2. But here we are, nonetheless.

Anyhow, here are some clear signs that she's into you…

Take them with a pinch of salt, as ever, but the more you rack up, the more you can dust off your dancing shoes, chaps!

1. Playing hard to get

2. Smiling all the time – even when she thinks you aren't looking

3. Sending you memes – the fact that you're on her mind is amazing news, and even more so that she's proud enough of you for all her Facebook feed to see your fledgling relationship bloom too! Plus, puppies and cute content – it's a win-win situation!

4. She winks or bites her lip. She knows exactly what she's doing. You won't quite know how to stand straight after she whips this out. It's just science. Don't question it, absorb that feeling!

5. Increased physical contact, particularly in public. It may seem casual, but make no mistake, she's staking her claim on you in the bar. Off-limits, officially tonight, chaps!

6. She asks you how your day has been, or about your hobbies or interests without it seeming like an interrogation. If she cares about your life, you can bet your house that she's interested in you.

7. Showing you pictures of her dog, by the way, is basically her asking you to have her children. That's the gold standard. It helps if you have a dog too. Is that wedding bells I hear? Or just the dog collar jingling?

Frankly it's the same thing.

We all get those moments in the rom-com when the endearing nerd stereotype tries to talk to the Popular/Plastic generic male fantasy wish-fulfillment self-insert here and you cringe with second-hand embarrassment. And I mean, the proper stuff. Like, close your eyes-put a pillow in front of your head, 'pause the film' because it's so agonising. Yes, we all are well familiar with cringe. And no, none of us ever really learn how to talk to our crush.

Oh but how we try!

And finally, to the ladies out there, subtly sending out these signals…

BE YOURSELF!

Gosh, it's a cliché and maybe it's cringe, but here's a secret: the best advice has already been given. Sometimes we just need to hear things from different angles to act on them. Truly, though – you are enough as you are. You don't need to change your body or personality to entice him! You don't need to become his ideal woman or devalue your own personality or hobbies in order to engage with him.

But wear heels. That's the killer clue.

Not all guys are worth heels, so if she decides you are – you're in, my friend.

Congrats!