Let's get some shit outta the way:

Yes, I am lifting/reading the sidebar (finally made it to year 3 of TRM, think I'm going to pick up his book(s) but idk what Preventative Medicine is about)

Yes, I know assuming attraction is best.

Yes, I am talking/pursuing other women.

Yep I'm definitely analyzing shit. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now, the questions:

1) If you're talking to a woman and she looks at her fidgeting hands a fair amount during conversation, can this by itself be considered an IOI from a demonstrably shy woman?

I ask because I noted a girl I talked to the other day at my school's gym (not my main one) was doing it in tandem with filling in periodic voids of silence + trying to speak at the same time to ask each other questions, which I did take as IOIs - and I recalled a very quiet classmate in a group project doing the hands thing when we were working together whenever I spoke to her

2) What's the smoothest way to handle rejection that doesn't involve immediately bailing on the situation? That's been my reaction so far, I think I can do better, and I want to nuke that instinct but I'm not too sure where to start/what to replace with or even what to read. Google didn't help me much other than to tell me to 'embrace the rejection'.

3) Back to the girl in #1 I mentioned; after two back-to-back IOI filled extended conversations where she got a lot of attention from me, my instinct is to not pay her much attention beyond 'hi/bye' when I go there Monday to do gym-shit. Then Tuesday I'm going to see if she wants to come w/me when I go try a new (to me) restaurant that's nearby that evening. bad or good strategy?

4) This blonde HB7.5 talks my ear off in my class and while I'd love to smash it's actually pretty damn distracting. We have decent rapport currently (or I guess she wouldn't be so comfortable talking so much) but I'm almost regretting building it. Would loudly 'shhhhhsh'ing her so that people can hear it be too overt? Is there a better way to shut her up w/out killing attraction (She touches me a lot so I'm sure it's there)?

college, for reference