Friendships with people of the other gender.

In the world that we live in people are becoming more open-minded and now the once lets say taboo,of having a friendship with someone of the other gender is normalized.(tbh it should be)

I get it that for some people it might be awkward to have a friendship with the other gender weird but why should it be?Personally I have a very close friendship with a boy in my grade.And no I dont like him and he doesnt like me.It isnt that awkward at all between us.We hug,I talk to him about my boy problems,he gives me advice and we hang out at each others houses all the time.

But why when I tell people i talk to a boy normally and we have never thought of having a relationship together they open their eyes like he is using me or we have feelings for eachother and wont accept it???Why everytime we go out together people think we are dating?I especially used to get very annoyed when we first met and they thought he liked me.

This is my personal experience and i dont mean to purposefully offend anyone,not everybody has the same experience.

xxxx