Offended a boy! :(

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So I am a young woman, teen girl, whatever. I ama Junior in highschool, and quite short. Today I got in line with a freshman boy who might have been shorter than me! I stared at him for a few seconds to try and gauge it.

He looked at me and said, "Hello."

I was afraid. What if he thought I was staring because I was a stalker?

I said, "Oh, I was just thinking of how short you are. Sorry!"

And he kind of nodded and walked away.

I'm so mean! I feel so bad. I don't know how to apologize. He was cute, too, not the kind of guy I'd mind knowing.

What should I do?

My first thought: "oh, that's adorable."

Frankly, yeah, it was a bit of a foot-in-the-mouth moment, but not that terrible. Track him down and apologize, maybe prepare a bit beforehand. It might actually lead to something good.

When you see him again just say, "Sorry, please forgive me, I did not mean to offend you."

I actually stim by staring at people's hair and sometimes they catch me doing it. When they do I just apologize and tell them I am Autistic and that the colors and nuances in hair, especially beautiful, shiny, healthy hair, really relaxes me. They usually totally understand and are usually thrilled that I think their hair is beautiful. If you are comfortable with letting him know you are Autistic, he might understand and not be upset.

Having known a few short guys and how they were treated in school, it sounds like your "offense" was very mild. I concur with what the others said - find the boy, and make a simple apology. This is nothing to be concerned about. He won't hate you over a comment like that. You might even be able to tell him that he's cute while you're at it (if you dare.)

As my (short) husband likes to say, great things often come in small packages.

Well, if you are sorry then go apologize. Simple as that. As a short guy I would probably take offense to that, yes, and I would of probably responded in kind about some physical attribute about you. A girl saying that to me would be a lot more hurtful than whatever guy making fun of me.

You're adorable Skibum OP, I wouldn't worry about it too much, we've all had moments when we've said things we wished we didn't. One of the members of my social skills group made another member cry because he told her he'd forgotten she was there and that she seemed invisible because she was always so quiet. He apologised (though to me it didn't seem like he really meant it), and they managed to get on with things. Just apologise, and only mention the autism if you want to (I probably would, but then, I feel it's important for people to know), I'm sure everything will be fine.

Sorry to revive, but I recently interacted with that boy again. I lent him my phone and he said "Sweet" and took it so he could say something romantic to his girlfriend or whoever.

If I see him again, should I just drop the short thing? He doesn't seem to care.

He probably forgot about the encounter.

He's moved on.

If I had a dollar for every time somebody called me short for no apparent reason in highschool...well, I'd have probably a hundred dollars or so that I don't have now.

It's not a big deal. People I didn't know used to just come up to me and say "You know, you're really short." Honestly, it happened all the time. They also frequently told me that I looked like a twelve year old. While it may not be nice to point out for no reason, worse things have been said, for sure.

One of my nicknames was "El Shrimpo."

Really, one of my Nicknames is "
El pingüino Cian."

It translates to The Cyan Penguin.