it's all about having a balance of being what they call "cocky/funny", having an indifferent attitude towards them, and not being a kiss-ass while still being nice, but not too nice.
the indifferent attitude towards them definitely turns them on more than confessing love to them and all that bullshit. trust me, it's like magic. you said yourself when you ignored her (although unintentionally) it made her question whats up and that sparked some attraction. keep it up and add some of the "cocky/funny" stuff in. i dont want to explain that all over again so read eariler in this thread or look it up online.
Holy cow, I didn't bother to read the rest of the thread very thoroughly until now. Yes bigjohn, you've already described much of what I've been thinking about.
Notice how, in the original post, the girl is attracted to some guy you, COBL, think is a jerk? He doesn't pay attention to her, yet, for some reason, she leans towards him. Thats just evidence that indifference stirs something in girls. They love attention, they're curious. So when your not giving them that attention, they'll be interested. I guess it's the thrill of the chase, who knows.
I'm going to go ahead and say that girls do prefer the "jerks."
However, by jerk, I'm not talking about abusive, disrespectful punks. These "jerks" I'm talking about are attractive by being funny and confident, but they don't give the girl his full attention. This way, they don't chase the girls, they make the girls chase them. Its more exciting for the girl, and she doesn't get sick of him by him being around all the time. Being a nice guy, unfortunately, is just boring and, well, unattractive.
Like I said earlier, I hate the idea of having to play a game. But that's what love seems to be: a game. My friends always tried to tell me this, but I was a stubborn, naive, idealist. I said just be yourself, be honest, give her compliments, make her feel good, pay attention to her, and all your dreams will come true, just like in the movies. Wrooooooong! Sure, you can "be yourself," but sometimes, "yourself" simply isn't good enough. At the very least, get your game on to initially attract the girl, and you can be yourself later. Hopefully, though, the game gets worked into your personality so that your not such a bore then.
If I were you, COBL, I'd move on. And I mean move on. Tough as it is, get your mind on other things. Get a life(and I mean that in a nice way). Friend zone is doom. But that doesn't mean its over with this girl. Once you stop paying so much attention to her, those things that got you into the friend zone will slowly start unwinding. It means you just might get another chance with her later, and you can do things right that time. Don't count on it getting her back though - it's more attractive that way.