TL;DR: picked up an HB8 last night, called her today, set up a date despite a dry spell of not having recently-met girls answer calls/text.

Backstory: I met an ex-pickup artist [from DC, used to teach pickup as a living, now married], who gave me a bunch of good advice last spring. The most important piece of advice was that you should ask a girl for her phone number EARLY on in the escalation process. He insisted that if you can talk to her for half an hour after asking, she would definitely answer [more on this later]. And if you leave after asking for the number, she'll think you're a pussy.

Another piece of advice this guy gave me into my last relationship [we recently decided to see other people since we now live across the country from one another], was to tell a story. It was the story of some Japanese guy, I wish I remembered the name, and it was to overcome resistance. I had just heard him tell it, and it worked like a charm in my last relationship. I put the moves on her, she flatly rejected me and said she was moving soon, and that she wasn't interested. I said, no problem, I understand where you're coming from completely. But I also told this story about a guy who meets a girl in Japan, and they both like each other, but he decides he won't ask her out until the next time they meet. Even though they live in the same city, they never pass each other again, and when they're both old, they end up whistfully wondering what their life would be like if they were together. I told her that sometimes there are no second chances, and that's why I tried to kiss you. But, I understand completely. Anyway, she melted. If anyone knows the name of the story let me know.

Anyway, only recently single, I wanted to try his other central piece of advice on the phone number thing. I met a cute girl at a party, she's smart, made witty comments, with a great body. I talked to a mutual female friend of ours, and didn't tell me her name, until she asked. We talked for awhile, then I went out on the porch and started hanging out with two girls there, mostly just to have female validation, and to not seem needy to the HB8. I later came back and set next to her. She kept giving me shit tests, and I made her guess often when she asked me questions, because she seemed interested enough. She couldn't remember my name, and I refused to tell it to her, and told my friends not to tell her. Eventually, she left, found my name from someone else, and came back. She was touching her hair, she initiated kino when she bumped into me swiveling her chair and I kept it going. She got out her phone, and i figured that could be a signal so I asked her if she wanted to hang out sometime, what was the best way to get in touch with her, and got her number.

I've got tons of numbers since I started reading seddit and related stuff, but every time I made the same mistake. I viewed the number as the goal of the conversation. After I'd get a hot girl's number, I would feel like a million bucks, and then go talk to someone else. EVERY TIME. Sometimes, it was because I was nervous afterwards, sometimes I told myself I was giving her space, but that was a HORRIBLE mistake to keep making. Last night, it finally clicked that getting a number was a step in escalation, making her more willing to invest in conversation, and more interested. So this time, I kept talking to her, acted like I never got her number in the first place, and kept kino going pretty blatantly. There were some guys on the couch across from us that had also been talking her her, one guy taller and better looking [I'm pretty average]. By then end, they were nervously fidgeting while I flirted with the HB8.

I'm almost sure I could have gone home with her, but I don't do one night stands, and I read PUA material only to find girlfriends. Also, I kind of want to stay single longer to see how much better I do vs. the old days. When she left, we hugged and she held me close and said "You're gonna call me, right?" I did, and I'm looking forward to drinks later this week.

Anyway, thanks to the community. Last night I felt more comfortable getting a date than ever before.