I used to be an investigator. I had to solicit confessions regularly, and one major factor was building common ground with the other person. So to sharpen my skill set, I literally walked thru the local mall starting conversations with complete strangers. It is challenging but I learned to become more observant of what a person wears, sounds like, smells like, and responded like. I became very good at ice breaking into a conversation and kept it going by watching for subtle responses. Anyway, use this to learn how to ice break into a conversation with confidence and pay close attention to her responses as there are many signs we miss that could help keep someone interested.