Friends in your 20s?

Let's start with a story, shall we?



When I first moved to Cleveland I was a (newly) single 20-something, working hard and playing hard all the while trying to settle in and make new friends. I was blessed, as this was something I was able to accomplish fairly quickly. One of my best girlfriends decided, without letting on, that she was going to introduce me to a friend of hers from high school because she thought we'd be a good match.



Success...or so we thought.



After about 2 weeks and seeing each other, oh, maybe 4 times, we lost interest in one another. A couple weeks later, when I realized he had a CD of mine, I texted him to see if I could get that back. Thinking I was angry, he picked up the phone and called.



In discussion he gave some lame excuse for not calling, something about not wanting a girlfriend right now and blah blah blah. But he was surprised by my response, "I didn't call you, either."



::SILENCE::



He processed this...



It had been 2ish weeks and neither of us attempted to contact the other. If that doesn't scream mutual disinterest I don't know what does.



Further into the discussion we agreed that we're not right for each other on a romantic level, however, we both enjoy hanging out so why not continue on as friends?



Great idea! You can never have too many friends.



Regardless of the fact that we only get together once every other month (at the very most) we've remained friends - I've even tried to hook him up with friends of mine from time to time.



What's the point of this story, you ask? Well, I alluded to an uncomfortable situation in a previous post involving the man friend and an ex - well folks, this was him. We've been attempting to get together for a while now and this was the first weekend we were both free and in town.



So, being a genius complete moron, I think it's a great idea to invite him out with an already interesting group of 20-somethings - including two of the man friend's buddies that I was meeting for the first time, his roommate, and my soon-to-be-roommate and one of her friends. Got all that?



At the time, it didn't seem like a big deal - the man friend knows the whole story of me and this friend and he's been super understanding of my abundance of male friends (what can I say, I'm a lucky girl).



Of course, as all y'all out there can imagine, awkwardness ensued. Looking back, what a bad idea this was - not to mention a pretty shitty first impression involving some of the most important of friends.



Yikes.



This all ties back to the debate that I've been having with a few close friends these past couple months. Is it possible to be friends with someone of the opposite sex in your 20s?



Now, I'm not talking about those friends that go way back that you've been friends with since high school or even before - I'm not talking about the BFFs of the world - I'm referring to newly acquired opposite sex friendships in your 20s.



Can a man and a woman of the opposite sex meet in their 20s and have a strictly platonic relationship?



I think yes, but lately signs have pointed to no - given the recent influx of male friendship disappearance.



So what do you think - can us 20-somethings live peacefully with friends of the opposite sex, or is there a sexual tension there that just can't be ignored?



Do any of you have friends of the opposite sex that are just that - friends and nothing more - or are there twinges of hope that one drunken night something might happen to change all that?



Cheers!



-A