The short version of this story is, a friend and I saw these girls at a pizza shop/bar here in the city and we decided to approach them. We asked to join and they said sure, and it was a great start. A lot of laughs, we talked about the pizza and how the one girl hated sausage (avoided low hanging fruit joke about sausage), stand up comedy, and work (only briefly). All of these topics were started by my friend and I.

Now, the lull came. We've all experienced it. It felt like a moment where one of the girls should have started a new topic, like the ball was in their court. My friend and I set up a foundation, said some interesting stuff like about the time I got picked on by a famous stand up comic, and now it was their turn to keep the conversation rolling. But they didn't. The lull came, and instead of continuing the conversation, they started talking to each other. This is when I knew my friend and I were dead. The conversation would pick up again every now and then about random stuff that often started with "so..." But it never reached that same high as the beginning.

My question is, what can be done about this lull, especially if they're not reciprocating conversation? I feel like a conversation is a back and forth and I shouldn't always be the one tossing out topics and always maintain a high level of entertainment. Because I'm always going to reach a point when my material is exhausted and eventually end up with "how bout them mets?"

How much of this situation is the girls not reciprocating conversation and how much of it is us not knowing how to handle the lull? Cheers and thanks!