If, on anything resembling the "first date" scenario and this includes first-time one-on-one platonic hanging-out scenes, the other person asks a question, it IS acceptable to add in more than the bare minimum of information necessary to answer. Even more than that, it's ok to use the answer to segue into a Conversation Topic. Please, do start topics. Do embellish some. Fear of being that person that starts telling stories which in turn become something closer to a monologue than a dialogue can be just as bad as being that person. At least the chatterbox is putting something out there and seems interested in time you're spending. Minimalism in speech, particularly early on, can easily make it seem like you don't want to be there, that you're being polite or humoring them. If you enjoy the conversation, give feedback. Make semi-mundane observations about the current moment, share opinions. Point out the girl that looks like how Charlie Brown would dress if he was a girl (or a crossdresser). I understand maybe you're nervous, but really, if it's with me, I'd rather you babble embarassingly than respond tersely with spartan sentences. I am six foot five two hundred fifty five pound male. I don't want to feel that you're there because you were too intimidated to say no. Or because you were polite. More than that, I'm generally the monologue type myself. I don't ask questions out of politeness. I ask for the answers. I don't talk to hear myself (though I do have a beautiful speaking voice, true).