What's My Age Again?

I'm not tactful.

I'm socially awkward.

I never know the right thing to say.

I have trouble seeing if I'm part of the group or just a joke within the confines of the group. 

I don't really understand how cliques work. I'm better one on one or with a group of two or three max. Sometimes even with two people, I can get really overwhelmed. I normalise after I've been with the people for a while and have quite a bit of exposure to them. 

The other week, I was talking with a co-worker who's a lead in the department and I was wondering how old she was. The other leads in the other departments are about my age (or so I thought) so I asked her how old she was. I was assuming she was in her early 30's. She wasn't. She's 23. I added like 10 years to her. 

We were stood in the back, I was packing and she was filling an order. I was trying to fit in by making small talk. I thought that's how friendships happen, make some talk, get to know one another, a relationship forms. Wrong. I turned to her and asked, "How old are you by the way?" Simple question. I forgot that one rule-you never ask a woman her age. "Why? How old do you think I am? I'm 23." Fireworks exploded in my brain. "Nothing. I didn't-I was just wondering!" "Do you think I look old?!" I didn't know what to say. I almost panicked. I knew that I wasn' going to tell her that I thought she was over 30. All I could express was my surprise that she was younger than me. Judging by her face when she looked up at me, I called her old without calling her old. I mean, yeah I guess in a way I was calling her older, but it's-well, I guess adding 10 years to someone is an insult. 

Well, she got an answer from me. She may not have liked it, but at least I was truthful about it. I'm not gonna change my mind or my answer just to please her. Or anyone for that matter. It's not going to be the last time that I get into a situation like this with this co-worker. I didn't think she liked me before, but I'm certain after this she's not a fan of mine.