Ok, flirting.
I understand your point of view. Explaining flirting is not easy. But I'll give it a shot.
I tell you first what isn't flirting. Flirting is not just talking about the wheater, talking about your favorite pizza, etc. Flirting isn't even telling a funny story. Well, you can flirt while talking about your favorite pizza, but let me explain further.
Gaming or picking up a girl consists mostly of flirting. Flirting is a sort of vibe you're creating. Flirting is either sexual, mostly playfull, or smooth, or a combination of the three.
You can flirt verbaly. For example: if she touch your ass, you can say "hey I know you are trying to seduce me by touching my ass but that doesn't mean we're going to have sex tonight!

". Teasing her in a non offencing way is flirting. So tease her with anyting except with things she might feel insecure about.
You can flirt non verbaly: this is made through body language. Looking seductivly at a girl, your face should say "I know you want me, so don't try to resist me, you can't. I WANT YOU SO YOU WILL BE MINE.". Talking slowly, moving slowly. Making eye contact and smiling at a girl, while creating a moment of a few seconds while the rest of the world seems to dissapear, that's flirting.
Also, the choice of your words also define if you're flirting or not. Words like "exciting, thrilling, adventure, experience, hot, sexy, terific, breath taking , ... etc. are flirty words.
As for flirting with texts, I can give you this link:
http://www.bristollair.com/2008/outer-g ... text-game/ . It's were I get all my text tactics from. But in general I don't like texting with girls because they play hard to get because texting is their domain, or even battle field. So I mostly text short and aloofly if I have to text, and I call her if I want to know how she is doing and if I want to set a date. I sometimes use flirty text messages only if I didn't see her for a few days and I want to restart a small bit of attraction without having to put energy in calling (so when I'm lazy).
If she acts aloof or if she is not flirting, 4 things are possible: 1) she is just boring, 2) you're not flirting, 3) she is testing you if you persist, 4) she don't like you for whatever reason.
Btw, if men define a situation as real, they're real in the consequences. Which mean: if she acts aloof, but you still keep on thinking she likes you or if you think "ok she may act aloof but let's see if she still is after an hour

", and if you persist, she might open up. Only stop flirting when she gave you a real IOD. Only eject with the frame "she is boring. don't want to put energy in it" and not with the frame "she doesn't like me, so I might better leave ... "
You know when a girl is flirting with you, not particulary when she is giving you IOI's, but when she starts touching you more and more, when she changes tonality of her voice, or when she asks you dirty "so which exciting adventures did you have last night

?" instead of "how was last night?". When girls flirt with you, it's on IOI, but not every IOI is flirty or playfull. Girls use a lot more flirty words then. Or they give you cheesy names like "my hero" or whatever.
Btw, when seducing or gaming a girl you don't have to flirt all the time. It costs you alot of energy and it makes her think that you're a player. So flirt enough, but don't overdo it. You should also show a girl that you're mature and can be serious.
Hope this helps or want to know more?
Btw, what did you think what flirting was and how do you flirt then?