>>42364453
>I am socially inept, but fine looking/sounding
post photo bro, let's see your pretty face

>>42364465
it's longish-round with tired green eyes and pale-peach skin

>>42364486
i'm not very good at imagination come on

>>42364453
sit near her and feign ignorance about some topics. say "you seem like you know more, can you help me with this?" or "hey could i peek at your notes from last lecture? i didnt really get what the prof was talking about". if she doesnt seem that interested in talking to you, mission failed but the stakes were basically nothing so its ok.
if she does seem interested, just become more comfortable around her. make normal conversation, make jokes, comment on stickers on her laptop or whatever. if a test or project is coming up, ask if she'd like to meet up at a coffee shop to study together. coffee shop is s tier for this situation because its a nice environment to study anyways.
im noticing now that you said lab partner so this may be difficult if youve already been assigned group mates but nothing here is undoable.
once youve become class friends you just need to extend it. be casual and dont put pressure, after you study together say something like "hey i was gonna go (insert some errand you need to run like going to the bookstore for a textbook or whatever), do you wanna join me?"
you said youre socially inept so literally just think up a line like these and rehearse it into the mirror until youre ready to say it to her. this is how all autists act normal
once you're actual out-of-class friends you have it in the bag, trannies are all easy

>>42364589
we have lectures on tuesdays & labs on thursdays, so i can potentially sit next to her during the lectures, the issue is she might already have made freinds she'd like to sit next to instead, but let's say I do sit next to her.
Obviously I can't talk to her during the lecture, but I'll have a bunch of small opprotunities to make small talk; what should I say/ask her about? It's a beginner class so there isn't very much need for studying outside the classroom, what other things could I talk to her about?

>>42364653
its tough because the real answer here is that you kinda just need to force yourself to build the social skills necessary to walk up to someone and be like "oh my god i love your (insert part of their appearance that its ok to comment on or accessory theyre wearing" and start a conversation based on that. try to think of something about her you find interesting enough to talk about. your only other option is to hope shes autistic enough for the "hey do you want to be friends" cold open to be viable.
ill give an example. i had this roommate since september that i wanted to hang out with but i couldnt find a way to justify asking. eventually the strat i came up with was to tell her i was planning on taking a bus ride into the nearest city to go clothes shopping since there were no malls near campus. she had mentioned going into the city several times before so she pulled up google maps and showed me the bus route directly to a neighborhood with a lot of thrifts. she asked "were you planning on going alone?" which was the cue that she was interested so i said "yeah i didnt have anyone else to go with", pretended to think for a second, then said "you obv know a lot, do you wanna go?" as i looked up at her. we went two days later and now we hang out fairly often.
mind you im a turboautist this does not come naturally for me. i cant tell you the answer because i dont know you or her but you need to find a casual way to ask. the nice thing is that once you're in you're in.

>>42364816
I might just try to obviously signal small talk "the weather's nice today, isn't it?" "which degree are you persuing", and see how she responds, I hope she responds positively.
God I'd like nothing more than to bite into her neck and kiss up and down her body :( and there are 5 entire days before I can even see her again. She's so pretty, her eyes are so big and round, like a doe's, she's so tall, her hair is so neatly styled, and she dresses so excellently. She seems like she has a similar personality to me, so I hope she likes the same things I do; if it goes extra well, maybe we could meet for coffee the same week? The uncertainty is killing me >m>