Making himself available to you is something that comes with ease.
It doesn’t matter that he had other plans.
Since you want his time, whether it be over the phone, a video chat, or in person, he makes himself available to you.
Even though the conversation stays platonic, the fact that he made time for you on the spot and without hesitation is a clear sign he secretly likes you.
Making himself this available to you isn’t something he does with the other friends in the friend circle you both are a part of.
If he already had something else planned, he doesn’t make himself available to those friends.
On the contrary, whenever you are the one in need of his time and attention, he makes that time for you.
Additionally, whenever you are all out in public and hanging out as friends at clubs, lounges, restaurants, house parties, malls, etc., he stays physically close to you.
In these crowded spaces, he is protective over you.
If you so happen to get stuck talking to a guy who is trying to get you to come home with him and he can clearly tell you aren’t comfortable, he finds a way to get in the mix so as to give you an excuse to get away from the guy.
This behavior is done under the guise of him being a protective friend, but in reality, this level of protectiveness is often a clear sign that he secretly likes you.
Furthermore, this is a guy who doesn’t forget the personal and intimate information he has learned from you in past conversations and remembers this information with absolute detail.
For instance, he remembers that you took care of a sick red-winged blackbird when you were six years old or that you had an invisible friend named “Emma” when you were eight years old.
This isn’t how it is with your other friends, as they rarely remember what you tell them about your past with such specific detail.
A guy who secretly likes you absorbs all of the personal and intimate information you give him and remembers the details with complete clarity.
To him, this is yet another piece of information that gives him further insight into who you are as a person, which makes him feel that much more connected to you.
He cares about your reputation too.
If he hears something about you that is being talked or gossiped about that doesn’t put you in a good light, he tells you about it.
Think back to moments you have had conversations with him, and he has told you about something that was being said about you by someone else, which put you in a bad light.
He wanted you to know that someone was speaking poorly about you behind your back.
Again, he usually informs you about this under the guise of being a platonic friend who is looking out for you.
Besides this, he also keeps his ears peeled to learn more about who you might be dating or taking a fancy to.
This is where he listens to mutual friends and acquaintances to get clues as to whether there is someone you are dating or talking to.
Whatever he learns comes up on a later conversation he has with you where he casually brings up the rumors he is hearing about some guy you are dating or talking to.
He is coming off as jokey, but deep down, he is seeking further information from you to see whether you are serious about the guy.
Under the guise of being a platonic friend, he wants to get the dish, acting as though it is all about fun and gossipy conversation.
But in reality, he wants to ascertain how much you like the guy so that he can determine whether there is still hope that at some point in the foreseeable future, the two of you will become more than just friends.