Wrong! I had my partner propose when I was 16. My response was exactly that - I want to be with you, but not right now.

Seven years later, three relationships in my case, a marriage in his, degrees for both of us, and a child with his ex-wife, we're back together and it's perfect. If I had stayed with him, I would have regretted it because the grass would have seemed so much greener. I didn't know what I was missing. Now I do, and it's lousy, but I needed to find that out for myself. Sometimes not right now literally means not right now.

That only works if the woman is undecided. If a man doesn't love you now, he never will.

I know someone who just said this to his gf of 3 years. Both of them are devastated over their breakup. He thinks the break is necessary right now but not forever. She's telling him to pound sand forever... He thinks she could be the one but before they consider getting engaged need to see other people. She thinks what Cary is saying... Am thinking it is possibly cold feet...

Sometimes it means "I want to sleep with you but I want to keep my options open." Whatever it means it doesn't mean "I love you and I want to be with you and only you." And if he's not saying that what do you want with him.

I think that both men and women want to see what they want to.
When someone says "I wanna be with you, just not right now", it is so clear cut there is no room for imagining an underlying meaning.

The only possible thing left to cling to is that faint little "not right now", hoping that it means "maybe someday".

The problem is, if you hang around waiting for that 'someday' to arrive, the present reality of 'not being enough' right now will inevitably pick away at your sense of self-worth and self-esteem.

Maybe he does care, but 'not enough' right now.
Maybe someday will come, but not right now!

Cary is using tough love to stop you from a slow and painful self destruction.

It means you are too good for him and he's not ready to be the man it takes to be with you. He wants to be single, and thats final. However; if he did get with someone, it would be someone like you. Still, not necessarily "you" because by the time he is ready to settle down, he will probably have found a slew of things that he is also looking for in a person that you might or might not posess. It means he likes you, likes your company, but doesn't want a relationship. Move on and this will let him know that you aren't dropping your morals nor waiting around for anyone.