A man pinching a woman's nipple after she pinched his?

Now I'm a pretty shameless flirt, and most my social circle knows that I'm completely down to take it further if you're willing to reciprocate. Anyways, a friend of a sometimes lover seemed to be really enjoying my company in a social setting and I admit I was having a good time myself. There was some champagne involved but I don't think anyone there had more than a few glasses. My mojo was in full swing though and there was definitely some pretty heavy chemistry going on between us.

That is until I made a "mean" joke. She did an "Oh, I'm gonna get you for that!" laugh and pinched my nipple. I exclaimed "Ow!" but was laughing when I got her back. Her face dropped and she gave me a "the audacity!" scoff. I realized I had fucked up and tried to apologize but she was moving away from me and calling her friend. Everyone around us was starting to pay attention and she told her friend that I had pinched her tit. I tried to say, "Whoa, it wasn't like that!" but her friend came in hot with a "WTF is wrong with you?". I was left with my palms pointed up and a slack jaw while everyone around me stared me down with judgemental eyes. I decided to leave at this point.

I thought the situation was fair game for equal retaliation, but at the same time, in hindsight, I can see it wasn't exactly equal retaliation. Anyways, AITAH?