Body language in action.
Scene 2

He has tried hard and succeeded in 'breaking the ice' by making her laugh. Humor is one of the most effective ways to remove barriers and to get emotionally closer. Humor 'greases the wheels of an ongoing relationship'. Research shows that women put humor high on their list of desired traits in a man.

Analysis of his body language, Scene 2:

(1) He still has not moved much. He is ready to stay or to leave. That depends on her.
He is holding his ground and staying in control but can leave at any time. Both of his hands are still below the table so he is still not revealing much of his intentions.

(2) He has dropped his glance and is looking at his drink.
He has risked saying something out of the ordinary to get her to laugh. He did not want to be fully responsible for it if it failed to make her laugh, so he had to stop his eye contact and disconnect a little. He is focused on his drink glass as if that is why he is really here, too. In case his humor and his approaching her are rejected by her then it won't be so devastating. He could rationalize the incident by saying, "I only came here for a drink".

Analysis of her body language, Scene 2:

(1) She is both laughing and smiling at his comment.
She is using laughter to show him understanding and agreement with his comment. This shows him that she can relate to how he is thinking. Laughter is used like punctuation in conversation. A smile is different and signals, 'I like you and won't hurt you'.

(2) She has stopped focusing on her glass and looked up. Her face is up more but still not directly aimed at his. She is watching him out of the corners of her eyes.
She is opening up a little to him but she still can't look him in the eyes. That would be too close contact for now and too much commitment until she learns more about him. She will wait and see how well he courts her before she invests more into this brief relationship.

(3) Her left hand is less closed and moved away from her lap and to her leg, as is her right hand. Both hands are below the table.
Touching her leg gives a feeling of support and strength "to hold her up in this tense situation". Both hands beneath the table creates the impression she is keeping things hidden and will not invest much in him yet. She is being very reserved on how much she reveals about herself and her intentions.

(4)Her feet are pulled in under her chair, ankles crossed.
She is keeping her personal area small to feel more hidden, safe and secure.

Discussion

It is very evident that both of these people have strong body language messages about security. This is of primary concern for women who are approached by a strange man. In the old brain limbic system of women are stored a number of unconscious defensive programs to increase their chances for survival. All of her female ancestors helped develop and pass on to her important survival programs in her DNA. One of women's strategies is to be always on the lookout for predatory males. However, also in her DNA programming is the need for a male to pass on her DNA to future generations. So she has to first attract males but second she has to sort out the dangerous ones from the safe ones. This takes time and shrewed observation. She has to make a decision about each man who approaches her. Then from the safe ones she must wisely choose the best one to help her produce the healthiest offspring.

All this is always going on at the deep, old brain limbic system level even though on the surface she appears to be out just for a little fun and relaxation. Some women might strongly disagree with this scenario by saying, "I really am out just for some fun and relaxation!" However, possibly at the same moment (or at least at another time in the month) one of her ovaries will liberate an ovum that will move down her uterine tube to her uterus where it will wait to be fertilized by a male's sperm. Again I point out that the old brain limbic system is often saying something very different with body language messages than what comes out of the mouth.