Ask if he wants to meet or is just killing time

When he says this without a specific day or place, he's not making a plan. He's making a sound that feels safe. It costs him nothing to say. The difference between 'we should hang sometime' and actual interest is that actual interest moves toward a calendar and a location.

Read his behavior under pressure. The pressure here is just you suggesting something concrete. If he wilts, avoids the details, or throws it back to you to organize, he's been texting for the friction-free feeling of it, not because he wants to see you.

Your reply needs to do two things. First, remove all the wiggle room by naming a specific day, not 'next week' but 'Thursday at 7', and a specific spot. This sounds like confidence but it's actually a filter. Second, make it easy for him to say yes or offer a real alternative. A bar down the street, a coffee shop, whatever. Something he can actually picture.

Then stop texting. He either says yes, proposes a different day that works, or he doesn't engage. That third option is the answer. Don't soften it by saying 'unless you're busy' or 'only if you feel like it'. Let him sit with the specific ask.

Send the message and wait. One day, maybe two. If he agrees or suggests a real alternative, you have something. If he sends back 'sounds fun, let me check my schedule' or keeps it vague, that's him declining in slow motion. Don't ask again. Don't re-pitch the idea with different wording or a different date.

If he goes quiet, consider it answered. Some guys will text you for weeks but won't actually show up or commit to a plan. Stop carrying that energy forward. His silence or stalling is data. Use it.