My best guy friend is sitting across from me as I type this, playing footsie with me under the table. We ve been friends for 10 years, since college, and we ve grown closer with age. We can talk for hours about things big and small; we can also sit comfortably in silence. He makes me laugh, always, but has sincere words when I need a lift.

It s the perfect relationship. Except, of course, for when we split ways and I go home, try to mentally decode the meaning of footsie and then turn to my roommate or my sister or anyone who ll listen and say, UGH! WE RE SO PERFECT TOGETHER, WHY AREN T WE DATING?! And other sane things like that.

Pop culture abounds with examples of friends who ve navigated or attempted to navigate the path to romance. Think Friends, in which Monica and Chandler get together. And Little Women, when Laurie longs for childhood pal Jo March. Or, most famously, When Harry Met Sally . . ., which explores the muddy waters of sexual tension to determine if, in fact, men and women can be friends.