Just about everyone can agree that flirting is no fun, right? Sure, there are some outliers who enjoy "the chase," but for the most part, trying to catch your crush's eye can feel torturous.
Which may be why a little girl's rant about her first attempt at flirting seems to be hitting home for so many people.
Rachelle Coriddi filmed her daughter, Ella, talking about her crush, a boy named John, in the car after school one day and posted the video to YouTube. The little girl said some pretty relatable things about how difficult flirting can be, no matter what your age.
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"So Ella," the video starts. "Did you play with the girls at your school today?"
Ella tells her mom that, no, she did not play with the girls at school because she was playing tag with John instead. It seems that Coriddi already had an idea of who John was, and that her daughter liked him.
"Does John like you?" she asked Ella.
"He said 50/50," Ella responded.
When Coriddi suggested that Ella might have to work on swaying the other 50% in her favor, the little girl went off.
"I dress cute, I smile at him, I even winked at him — two times," she said. "And all I get back is one — one — fake smile."
Girl, we feel you. Sometimes the effort we put into trying to develop a relationship just isn't worth what we get back. And honestly, we doubt John is worth the anguish Ella seems to be feeling.
"I've tried. I've tried," she said as she threw her head back. "Why is my life so miserable?"
It's pretty clear that she isn't truly feeling like her life is over because this one boy doesn't like her — she and her mom laugh through her whole dramatic retelling of her flirting strategy — but Ella hits on something that many people feel when it seems like we're trying so hard to build a relationship the other person/people don't want: hopelessness.
Dressing cute, smiling, and even winking might not be the best way to let someone know you're interested, though. A review of two studies exploring how accurately people perceive flirting found that we're not very good at picking up on those subtle hints.
So if you find yourself in Ella's shoes, do what she did: ask your crush outright. But if they come back at you with "I like you 50/50," we suggest you cut your losses.