So I was talking to this girl that was getting me hooked. Smart, sense of humour 10/10, pretty face. We went out on day five spontaneously, walked my dog first, went for drinks and talked for a couple of hours, then went back home to my place, smoked some weed and made dinner together. IOI was good, revealing her neck, playing with her hair, I was lowkey physical and she didn’t mind. After the night we talked about where this should go and she pointed out that she wants to stay friends but that she likes talking to me. I left her on seen the next day, she texted me again yesterday after a couple of days asking what that was all about and I explained nicely about the different interests that we were apparently having. She said that she understands (also, she just broke up with her boyfriend just before we met) and respects it. We ended it in a nice “see you when I see you” matter and she even added a kiss at the end (I know it’s not much but initially she was against things like that). So to my question, do you think the friend zone is even real or believe that it’s just a backup plan and how would any of you react in a situation like this? I like her a lot but did not want to be stuck in a friendly dynamic though I do hope we’ll be able to hang out again and hopefully more in the future.