So I get to class today and sit down next to this athletic looking HB7.5. I immediately I strike up a conversation, avoiding any AA/vibes that tell her I was thinking of what to say:

Me: You study for the quiz? (There's no quiz today)

Her: Uhh, no.. quiz?

Me: Yeah. It's on chapters 12-14. Didn't you read the syllabus?

Her: (Laughs) yeah I guess not.

Me: (Let it sink in for a minute)… April fool's.

Her: (Lighthearted laugh) yeah I was gonna say, I thought we just had a quiz the other day.

Me: Yeah I’ve been looking forward to this holiday for ever. I got another girl earlier and told her she had a booger in her nose.

Her: Haha, that’s so mean.

Me: Yeah I guess so.

At this point, I got into my own head and didn’t let the conversation flow enough. I was pretty wired from too much coffee this morning and I could tell I was talking faster than I should have been. The excess caffeine actually caused me a little anxiety and the conversation failed. I could tell my eye contact was more spasmodic than it should have been. I ended up pulling out my notes and looking at them before class in an attempt to look busy and not embarrassed by letting the conversation go but I was pretty peeved with myself. Oh well. While I was looking at my notes I noticed a couple of times she looked in my direction which made me think she wanted me to keep talking but I bitched out and kept pretty silent all class. I did note that she mirrored some of my body language throughout class though.

Right before class ended, my professor told us to get in groups of three and do an in-class assignment. I look around and just kind of wait (I usually am pretty forward with this stuff and will ask whoever the fuck I want but my stubborn ass wasn’t ready to be done with my pity-party yet) and she looks at me and asks if I want to be partners with her and an HB7 who I had a class with previously (we had seen each other plenty of times and actually had a mutual friend facilitate a small conversation but we barely had a real interaction up until this point).

We finish fairly quickly and HB7.5 takes the paper and hands it in. This leaves myself and HB7 to talk as class is over. Some people around us are still working, others are getting up and leaving. She tells me how she switched from music to psychology and how she’s doing opera now. This is all while we are standing and talking, we both have our backpacks and coats on and are ready to leave. To me, this seemed like a huge IOI since we were both ready to leave but she continued to stand and have conversation instead of exiting. We talked for another 30 or so seconds and then I put my hand out toward the door and she exited in front of me. We continue to talk and I walk together and talk about mutual interests for another 2 or 3 minutes until we get to the library. I stop walking and she does too and we continue to talk for another minute:

Me: So what was your name? I know we’ve talked before but I don’t think we’ve ever been introduced to each other. (Can’t remember if I shake her hand or not here)

Her: I’m HB7. And yours?

Me: Onlyvarius. We should get coffee sometime.

Her: Yeah definitely.

I hand her my phone and she puts in her number.

Me: Oh did you hear about [our mutual friend]? He’s trying to expedite his schooling, he wants to just finish and be a painter. He works in [city] and is teaching painting to like 40 year old women now.

Her: (Laughing) No I didn’t that’s wicked funny. I feel like he would be more likely to paint coolers or something?

Me: (No fucking idea what she’s talking about) Painting coolers? Like beer coolers?

Her: Yeah you know, to keep things cold

Me: (Slight smile) Nope, that’s not a real thing, you literally just made that up

Her: (Laughing) No I swear I didn’t! I think it’s a fraternity thing. They do it for dates.

Me: For dates? Well I like red and blue so you can use those colors when you paint mine for when we get coffee.

Her: Really? I was thinking something more like a beach theme, blue and red is too simple.

Me: Wow you’re going all out that’s so nice of you. I can’t say I’m gonna get you anything in return though. Maybe I’ll pay for your coffee but honestly probably not (smiling).

Her: (Can’t remember what she said her, nothing ridiculously important though).

Me: I gotta head out though. I’ll text you later on this week and we can set up a time to meet up.

Her: That sounds good (smiles)

Me: (Smile) alright see you later HB7.

This is where I second guess myself and as I’m working turn back around and say “It is HB7 right?” and she half turns and smiles and says yup! Then I follow up with “okay, have a good one”. I don’t like that I turned back around and did this cause it made me (or at least I feel like it made me) come off as insecure/needy, like I was holding on to a conversation even though it clearly had ended.

What I think I did well: I think I talked to her long enough in order to build enough attraction so that she won’t flake. I also think teasing her about bring me an artsy cooler on our “date” painted her a picture (pun intended) of us on an actual date and made it feel more real. My eye contact was pretty decent throughout the interaction.

What I’d like to get better at: I need to get better at making eye contact while walking, and not being so jumpy/nervous throughout the interaction. I really tried to focus on letting the conversation flow and it turned out pretty well, but in the back of my head I still was thinking “I hope I have enough things to talk about before we get to where she’s going”. Any tips on how to do either of these things?

Of course, any other tips/comments are greatly appreciated :)