Not-so-Witty-Banter

I have noticed that when people are uncomfortable around someone, perhaps because of threat or just shyness, they act much different than they do around those who they associate more with. Am example of this is when there is a group of four people sitting at a table, two are eating, two are just with them. The two eating happen to be females and the two others are males. The females are eating slower now that they are with the males than they were when they were alone. The males walked up and sat down and began talking to them, probably hitting on them. The females are eating slower and laughing softly at what is being said and are only talking when being addressed. This poses the possibility of threat, that they are unsure of who these men are and what they want from them. Or it could be that they are shy and just don't know them well enough yet to express themselves more naturally. 

Before the males sat down, the girls were talking and laughing and eating at a comfortable pace while not looking at their phones much at all. However, after being approached, they got much quieter and even overpowered by the sternness of the males' voices. They are speaking coyly to each other but are not even looking very much at the other two who are talking to each other as well to void the silence between the groups. When others walk up and say hi to the girls, their faces light up disregard their cellphones for what seems to be a welcome change, but once the encounter ceases, it goes back to not so witty banter and awkward giggles. 

But in this circumstance, the laughing becomes less hollow and more genuine as they talk more. One of the girls is talking to one of the guys and they are speaking louder and more confidently than before. Although, they are still eating rather slowly and looking at their phones quite a bit, they have not tried to leave or exit the conversation exactly. They have sat there laughing for about twenty minutes now likely talking about things that they have finally gauged that they all have in common. There is still an imaginary border centered on the table that has not yet been crossed by either party, had it been, the awkwardness would have ensued I assume. 

As a result, the group left together, walking closer, but with a noticeable gap between the genders. As they became more comfortable, the boundaries have shrunk a bit but are still apparent. As they walk away, there is quietness but also more contentedness than awkwardness. Perhaps the banter was enough to win over the girls, or maybe they just accepted each other's personality types. The differences in both the guys and the girls was also very apparent. One of the girls was a brunette in yoga pants and an NMSU shirt with a ball cap on while the other was in shorts and wore a baggy sweater and glasses. Both males were clean cut, one with a polo shirt and colored shorts and flip-flops and the other was wearing a bro-tank with pants and cowboy boots, college is a weird mix of people. One of the boys had a Texas accent while the other none and both of the girls had deeper laughs than most. Both parties lacked over-all confidence in conversation which is what made it awkward at times but both groups were comfortable talking to their own gender.