Is it possible to demonstrate interest to a girl without telling them straight up that you find them cute or whatever?

My goto is to always tease them and I do the occasional kino.

The reason I'm asking is because a couple weeks ago I was at a party with this girl I was crushing on for two weeks before that.

We were both drunk and I told her straight up that she was cute and she told me she thought I was cute too.

Anyways, the next day she was telling them that before yesterday she had no idea I was interested in her.

This was with me teasing her, giving her strong eye contact, some light kino and doing as much text book game as I could.

Is the only way to portray interest in a girl is to just tell them straight up you find them attractive?

Or is there a way to convey that without telling them straight up?