Hi Pertalote, welcome to our Community!!!
It's good to have another fellow PA member here! I live in State College now, and am from this area originally, about 20 minutes west of here in a tiny little town that you've never heard of I'm sure...My mom was the elementary art teacher in my school district for about 30 years, so I understand how important what you do is, and I thank you for doing it. I got the best K-12 education in an extremely small, public school district that anyone could get, and I'd not change a thing about it, and wish that our public school system was better supported and funded, as it's so very important...
Regarding your Love Bird, I understand exactly what you mean when you say that you wish you had a closer relationship with her (have you had her DNA-tested to be sure of her gender?), but have you actually attempted to hand-tame her?
***Something that you may or may not realize is that it's not ever too late to start hand-taming your bird!!! You've had her now for a few months, and it sounds like she is starting to trust you, which is always step #1, earning the bird's trust...But if you really want to closely-bond with her and develop the type of relationship with her where you can handle her, pet her, have her want to be scratched and petted, have her fly over to you and sit with you/on you, it's important to know that this is totally possible if you're committed to it...
Parrots are very intelligent, and they never stop learning. They are also "flock" animals, meaning that they want to bond closely with someone, whether that be another bird, another species of animal, or a person. Your Love Bird does not need another bird as long as YOU are her "flock"!
***The first rule of owning a bird, or what should be the first rule, is "NEVER buy a second bird for your first bird!!!!". This is extremely important for you to remember, because I'll say 80% of the time when someone starts to think that their sole parrot is "lonely", or that they "need a friend", and they make the decision to go out and bring home a second bird to be their current bird's "friend" or "flockmate", the end result is that that person now has two birds that THEY must be flockmates with, because they don't get along at all, and in a lot of cases they can't even have their cages in the same room, or be allowed out of their cages at the same time because they become extremely aggressive and fight/hurt each other...or worse.
Birds/Parrots form relationships with other birds in exactly the same way that we as people do!!! Birds are not like other "pets" or "animals"; they are not at all like having a dog or a cat, and as such you cannot just go out and buy another bird/parrot, bring it home, and expect your now two birds to get along or even want anything to do with each other. And this is regardless of whatever species or gender of bird you bring home as a friend for your bird. It could be another Love Bird, it could be some species of Conure or a Cockatiel, it could be a huge Macaw or a Cockatoo, or it could be a Dove or a Pigeon; we have no idea how they are going to react with each other, and actually we usually won'g be able to tell until some time has passed and they have been exposed to each other for some time (although in a lot of cases where they absolutely hate each other right off the bat, we know pretty directly, lol). Bottom-line is that unless YOU want a second bird to be YOUR companion, and unless YOU are totally prepared to have two birds that you are totally responsible for and are committed to being their only flockmate, then you should never bring home another bird for your first bird! They may love each other, bond closely, and if opposite genders they may eventually start mating; they may like each other and be friendly with each other, but not to the point of eventually mating if the opposite sex; they may not really like each other much at all, but are willing to "tolerate" each other being YOUR flockmate; they may really dislike each other and not want anything to do with each other, to the point where they get vocal and nippy with each other when they are around each other; they may absolutely hate each other and not want anything to do with each other, to the point that when they are allowed to be together they fight; and they may hate each other so much or there may be such a natural opposition to each other that they literally attack each other violently to the point where they will injure or kill one another...Those are the options, along with anything in-between.
Also, as already mentioned above, if you bring home another bird and they do bond closely with one another, the typical end-result to this is that neither bird will want anything to do with you at all anymore, and you will lose all connection to your current Love Bird. The reason for this is simple and logical: They'd rather be bonded-closely with one of their own species rather than a person. That's it. Right now there is no other bird available for your Love Bird to bond with, and because she naturally craves companionship and a "flock", you are going to be her choice of mate...
***I would say that instead of getting another Love Bird, based on the type of relationship you desire to have with your bird, that you should start working with her every single day, earning her trust, training her, and forming a very close bond with her that will eventually result in her being closely-bonded with you, and wanting to be with you, sit with you, step-up for you, want scratches and pets, etc. You mentioned that she's been taking food from your hand through the cage bars...that's step #1. You have to commit to working with her every single day, putting her cage in whatever room of your house that you spend most of your time when you're home, because just having her be in the same room as you whenever you're home helps her tremendously as far as feeling safe, secure, and comfortable with you (passive training/taming), and remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint, keep your patience and don't become frustrated, as hand-taming a non-tame parrot can take months to years, but is always possible...
(don't worrie, we mean well) : allthough it makes the birds happy it also encourages 'nesitng'behaviour.
