No one likes to think they're on someone else's hook, but the truth is, we are all on a hook by someone. Being on a hook means that someone is keeping you around to boost their ego while they look for other people to date. For example, you could totally like a guy and think that he likes you back, but he might also be telling you things like "I like you as a friend for now" or "I like you, but I don't want to date anyone right now." The key words in both of those phrases are "for now" and "right now" because they make you want to stick around and wait it out with the hopes that something will happen between you two later on.