Here's where I'm at: I don't have approach anxiety, and I can hold my own in a conversation with a group. I'm relatively quick-witted and I have a decent repetoir of funny stories.

But then when I get a girl one-on-one, things get tricky for me. Two or three minutes into the conversation, once the initial opening topic gets stale, I have trouble.

Here's an example of an interaction I had the other day at a restaurant/bar: I'm leaning on the bar getting a beer, not really in the pickup mindset. A girl and her friend are looking for a place to sit, and I see them look at the barstool that I'm almost sitting on and the open one next to it. Before she can ask if the seat is open, I make solid eye contact and say, "Go for it, girl. I'm about to head back to my table" loudly, with a bit smile on my face.

Her and the friend come sit down next to me. She's got her dog with her, and I pet it and tell her that the dog looks like a total bad-ass. She tells me his name is Sprinkles, and then the bartender gives me my beer.

I'm still the center of the conversation. I take a sip and do a very animated, "MMmmmm!!" then she ask what kind of beer I'm drinking. I tell her it's Dixie blackened VooDoo, and she says, "Oh yeah, I think I've had that before!" Then I say, "Yeah, it's like the darkest beer I've ever had. It's like you're getting slapped in the face every time you take a sip..." they I pause... "but, you know, you're kind of into that!" (it's not funny when you read it, but that's one of those things where delivery is everything, and judging from their reaction, I think I executed well.)

They both laugh and they're hooked. The one i think is cute is paying no attention to her friend and focusing on me. We talk about beer for a little bit, then we talk about her dog, and then I was kind of didn't know where to take the conversation. I tried to engage the friend, but she gave me boring one word answers. I had played up my level of enthusiasm for the initial interaction, but I can't keep that up for a whole conversation, because I would seem crazy. After a couple minutes, I told them it was nice chatting and I went back and joined my group.

What would y'all have done in that situation?