I work with her in retail. She is young. Not sure of her exact age, but i'm thinking she's 18. I'm 28. She is super shy, but very cute. Because of her reserved nature, it's very hard for me to interact with her. Whenever I talk to her, she always smiles, but it seems to me like a nervous smile. When she first started, I joked with her a little bit and then gave her a long ridiculous equation to solve that made absolutely no sense. It had drawings of waterfalls and smiley faces in it. She just smiled at me. A few days later, I saw her slaving away on a computer in the office looking bored to tears, so I came in, sat down next to her and played the 3 coin game with her. Again, she just smiled. It'd been about a week since i'd seen her since she works in a different department and I saw her again yesterday. I asked her if she had anything crazy planned for the weekend, she just smiled her usual nervous smile, said no and wandered off.

I finally said, to hell with this, i'm going to her department and trying a different approach. Being real with her. So, I did. I approached her down an aisle where we could be alone, kind of fluff talked about the products in her department for a minute and then playfully asked if she was shy, even though it's obvious she is. This is how our conversation went:

Me: Are you shy?
Her: Yes, I am.
Me: I knew it! I know how it feels to be shy. I used to be. I hated it. Whenever I was around people, I never knew what to say and I felt like all my jokes were stupid. Is that how you feel?
Her: Sometimes, yeah.
Me: Yeah, it's hard feeling that way, but I came over here because i'm intrigued by you. You seem like a very sweet and kind person, which is rare these days and I think that's really cool.
Her: Yeah, but you get hurt alot...

When she said this, her voice was soft and weak, as if thinking about the pains of her past were crushing her.

Me: You've been hurt a lot?
Her: Yeah, I have...
Me: I'm sorry. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but I understand how you feel. I have been hurt too. It's harder for people like us to go through these things, because we have a wall up all the time and hardly let anyone in. When we do, it is a priviledge not to be abused, so when someone does take advantage of it, it hurts much more for us than most people.
Her: Yeah. It does...

I thought it was good to relate to her on this level to show that I understand the delicate nature of a shy person, which I do. Everything I told her was the truth. I actually used to be really shy.

After this, I told her i'm really curious about her and got her to open up about her hobbies. She told me she's been playing guitar for two years, told me about a couple of Christian bands she's really into and she even teased me a little bit. We were standing there, pointlessly moving stuff on the shelves as we talked, kind of like two nervous kids who had crushes on each other and she made fun of me for it. It surprised me, actually.

Anyway, it got a little busy, she had to leave, so I just looked around her department for a little bit, joked around with the other employees there and when I saw her free again, I asked if she wanted to exchange numbers and text. She smiled that usual nervous smile and said with uncertainty, "I guessss..." She didn't seem like she knew what to do and this is where I surprised myself. I didn't get it from her! I guess because I was shy once and I had sympathy for her. I actually asked if she was really ready to give it to me. She told me she wanted to get to know me a little better first and I told her I understand. I had to leave, so I said bye and mentioned maybe we could get lunch one day. She just smiled, said okay, and went back to work. Like usual, I couldn't read her expressions.

Very confused. How do you all think I should approach this?

First off, the girl is young. she's 18 and you are 28. it can be intimidating for her.
That does not mean that every 18 year old easily gets intimidated by older guys. But it should not surprise you when that happens. She probably still in the proces of getting used to older guys having interest in her.

Second, you should not ask for her phone number. Just tell her to give it to you.
Be like: "Hey its really cool talking to you. give me your number maybe we can hang out sometime if am less busy" this not only shows you are interested in her, it also means you're a guy with a purpose in life. you just happen to ran into her.
you don't just go out and approach random girls.

When you say this to her, bring out you're phone as you're saying it. if she has some interest in you, it will be very hard for her to say no. it also does not give time to think.

Later on the day when she has given you her number,she will justify it anyway.

_________________
Learn how a fish will help you seduce women. http://seducehereasily.com/

I told her to give it to me. She seemed really nervous, but agreed.

I am confused about how things has evolved since then...

I texted her a couple of days after I got her number. She responded and was very receptive to conversation, however, I did not flirt much with her. I was just friendly and trying to get the ball rolling.

We continued to text for the next couple of days. She was very inquisitive, asking me a lot of questions about myself. Then, one night, after having a few drinks at a local dive bar, I called her. We talked for an hour and a half. She told me some personal details about her life, including a recent incident where a family member hit on her. She hadn't told anyone about it, but me. She didn't know what to do and wanted my opinion. After we hung up, she texted me saying how much she loved talking to me. I took that as a good thing.

Here's where things take a dive. I went to a party a few nights ago. At this party, there was a girl who has a huge crush on me. I told some friends about this girl at my work and she found out. She got very drunk, stole my phone and texted her. This is what she wrote, "I don't deserve you. I'm never talking to you again."

Days later, after no initiation on her part, I text the girl at my work and find out about this text. I'm pissed. So, I had to explain. Anyway, I then ask her if she'd like to hang out sometime. She blows me off, saying I can see her at work, even though she knows very well we hardly ever see each other at work, much less are able to talk. I call her out on this and she says she doesn't want to lead me on and get "my hopes up for something that could never happen."

Not sure why she said that, but I have read many times over to not take much stock in what a girl says and just pay attention to her behavior, so I just teased her for making things awkward and explained that i'm just wanting to be friends for now and just see where things go. I did this to see what she'd do. After this, she seems receptive to conversation with me again, but I postponed texting her, because I had to meet a few friends at a bar. After closing time, I shot her a text and we ended up texting from 2 AM until 7 AM. I would have called her, but she shares a room with her brother.

I tried to flirt with her a little bit. At one point, I said, "we should cuddle." She responded with, "Well, I guess we could cuddle as friends, even though that'd be awkward, lol."

I'm confused. She hasn't outright said she isn't interested in me. At times it seems like she just can't date me for some reason. She is hispanic and lives at home. Maybe it has something to do with her parents? It's all speculation, but any input from you guys would be great on what I should do next.

Yeah i think the fact that she lives with her parrent's deffinetly makes her hesistae to date you, but what i think you should do is to try to try to start hanging out with her in person more instead of texting so much, and try to introduce some kino to make her stop trying to put you in the friendzone.