TIFU by waving back at someone who wasn’t waving at me and then making it worse by trying to fix it

This happened about a week ago and I still think about every time.

I (26F) was walking into a cafe near my work for my lunchtime break when I saw this guys standing outside waving enthusiastically. Naturally, I smiled and waved back, thinking maybe it was someone from my coworking space or those “we-met-once-but-I-forgot-your-name” situations.

Except… his wave immediately slowed, and his smile turned into a visible confusion. That was my first clue. Behind me was his actual friend who he immediately ran up to and hugged while I was still mid wave like socially-starved golden retriever. Thinking that I was pranked like those viral videos online, awkward, but okay, I’ve done worse.

But it doesn’t end there. Because I decided to joke about it. When I walked into the cafe, I saw him again in line and said something like, “Haha, I guessed I jump the gun on that wave, huh?”

He turned to me and just stared at me with total confusion.

Turns out it was not the guy I thought. Which means I made another mistake, i was in a total panic and despair. I froze and let two more people to skipped me in line just to get more space away to that person.

I ordered my coffee and sat outside pretending to be on an important call until they left.

TL;DR Mistook a wave meant for someone else, wave back like an overexcited sim, then tried to make a joke about it to a complete stranger. Now I can never go back to that cafe again.