During this down time of sorts, are you still having sex with her? It sounds like you barely get to see her anymore, yet you wrote "String her along for low-maintenance sex until she catches on to me."
If a girl is pulling away, the worst thing you can do is to follow her. Contacting her quickly and repeatedly will lower your appeal. Try not contacting her for a week or two, and let her resume things. If you're still thinking about her, and she hasn't called, call her after two weeks, if only so you can shut her out if she's not interested. If she's at all interested, she'll be happy to hear from you after two weeks of silence.
In my experience, if they're annoyed by your behavior, 'talking about it' will just make her frustrated.
If a girl is pulling away, the worst thing you can do is to follow her. Contacting her quickly and repeatedly will lower your appeal. Try not contacting her for a week or two, and let her resume things. If you're still thinking about her, and she hasn't called, call her after two weeks, if only so you can shut her out if she's not interested. If she's at all interested, she'll be happy to hear from you after two weeks of silence.
In my experience, if they're annoyed by your behavior, 'talking about it' will just make her frustrated.