Nooby here, how do you distinguish between a female wanting to pull you into orbit or showing interest? I mean if she is trying to make you orbit her she will show enough interest to lure you right?

Example that happened to me two days ago: Sent her a text initiating convo with a joke, asked her out. She say the message but didn't respond so i thought to myself not interested Next. Yesterday she sends me a "mmmm". My hamster started spinning trying to think why she sent that "Maybe she wants me to try harder", "maybe she isn't comfortable enough and i should build some comfort" blah blah. Then I realized that i should see myself as the prize and not get caught so I read the message and ignored her.

Should i left a door open for her with a text? Was she trying to pull me into orbit? And to help me learn better, what are common ways they pull you to orbit them?