Signs

He was young and in love and scared and indecisive.
And so, naturally, he looked for signs.
If the next three cars are all red, that means…
Whether or not a particular song was played on the radio…

But the signs were never clear enough.
At first he had thought that she might be interested in him.
Later it seemed that she disliked him.

Years later, he realised that he had been looking at the wrong signs.
She had, indeed, been interested in him.
At least until his apparent but still hurtful failure to reciprocate had altered her feelings.