I (53m) have successfully made it out of the friend zone twice in my life. As miraculous and awesome and perfect as it is you might think it would be to jump from ‘buddy’ to boyfriend -DONT DO IT!! STAY A FRIEND.

You’re really attracted to someone. You spend a lot of time together and now you’d like to make it romantic. The other person doesnt feel the same but you know, they really you as a friend. Nothing personal against you but that spark isn’t there. Over time you grow closer and they decide to give it a shot. Bad move. In the end they feel bad for letting things get so far and you feel bad because you think they never really liked you. In my case both times we wound up living together for a year or two. Surprisingly enough there was no drama at all when it was time to split. Still friends both but it took a lot to get my ego took accept it