Love may be in the air, but if you miss out on certain telltale signs you'll end up living on a whole lot of fresh air with a few sprinkles of love. Most men always make the first move. If you've just met him wait for that inevitable telephone call or perhaps a bunch of flowers with a card (don't forget to read in between those lines). If you are on a date, watch out for those signs. A casual reference in a discussion of a love movie, a book he just read that talks of love. He could even be fibbing, but gauging your reaction. He's looking out for signs too!

First dates are great opportunities to judge attitudes. And in most first dates, there are give-away signs. Let's take his choice of a restaurant. If it's a posh place, he's just trying to impress you. Nothing wrong. But, if he wishes to decide on what you're going to eat and drink because he thinks it's good then chum, you're getting to be a bit pushy. During the two hours you spend with him, what else do you notice? He's waving out 'hellos' to others in the restaurant? Often leaving you alone at the table and walking across to say 'hi' to a few friends at another table? He goes a step further and invites someone to join in at the table, completely forgetting that 'two is company, three's a crowd'? Hasn't the slightest inclination to get to know more about you? Quite a few signs out there and nothing to do with that expensive deodorant, eh?

What attracted you to this joker in the first place, beats us. Perhaps this is one date you'd prefer to forget sooner, rather than later.

By contrast there's this other guy who asks you out on a date. He's soft-spoken, pleasant to be with, doesn't brag and takes you to this nothing-too-flashy little place, nice ambience that holds promises of a good evening. Now, here's a guy who knows his way around. He has etiquette. He's ordering food you want and prefers the same as you do. He's not fussy, which is a good sign. He's accommodating and that's another good sign. He talks softly, at times almost whispering. Which means, he wants the conversation to be private. So, he cares for your privacy, isn't too distracted by greetings of other known faces in the restaurant and politely waves back. His sights are trained on you. Obviously, he's on a mission.

So, what's the difference among the two? What's on their minds? Well, both have similar intentions. They're dating you for one of many reasons. A long-term relationship or because they think or perhaps you've given the impression that you're the one-night-stand type and hence, a short-stint affair. The 'show-off' guy you can forget. He's the type who'll always think of a relationship as something that can be bought off the shelf. It's the other guy whom women will find interesting - for the long-term and short-term. He's the caring type who can activate a woman's feelings.

The gestures will be there. He'll keep a close watch on the body language. If he detects a chink in your armory, he'll waste no time in moving on to the next phase of his plan. The one-night-stands will concede at some point or the other. But women looking towards a long-term association will move cautiously. There's no hurry. They'll need to go out more often, find out more about him, get to understand each other better and then see how it goes from there on.

Reading the signs

Man smart, Woman smarter!