<human>: Can you condense the text into three sentences or less?

So I'm a early 20s guy, I've partied and hooked up a decent amount but I've never really dated or had a girlfriend before. 

The advice I'm looking to vet is, that dating is all pretty much implicit. Asking a girl to dinner is not necessarily asking her on a date; the "datiness" of it is all contextual. Being explicit in general is not good, rather you want to aim for comfort and connection and that's harder if you do the inherently awkward thing of calling it a date. 

You'll know when you're both having a good time and the meal goes for an hour and a half, or two hours, right? 

Or am I wrong, and I should be more explicit?

Honestly the only time dating has worked for me is when I tried it this way, invited a girl to a party later, and hooked up there. But outside the alcohol/party scene I don't really know what I'm doing.
<bot>: Hey let's go on a date" versus "Hey, let's get lunch :)", pros and cons, ambiguities and natures of both.