to touch or not to touch

so, recently i was debating whether or not to hang out (and by hang out i mean play guitar hero) with this guy i work with. the reason for the debate was his age. he's way younger than me. if you know me, you know that i never date anyone older than me. its not a conscious decision, it just happens that way. but this kid (and the term "kid" is used literally here), is WAY younger. anywho, so i was debating just how big of a ped i wanted to be, and finally i was like eff it, i'll play guitar hero with the kid. what's the harm?

well, the guy who won't love me, but doesn't want me to touch anyone else was giving me crap for it (naturally). he said "i knew you'd go for it" and i said "its not like i would ever touch him". and his response? "then why would you hang out with him if you wouldn't touch him?" um....is it just me, or was that a strange question? am i the only person who hangs out with people for reasons other than touching? this was also particularly humorous coming from a guy who wants to hang out with me all the time but won't touch me. am i missing something here? so i guess the point of my story is this: is there any point in your life when you should limit your dealings with the opposite sex to dating? i mean, i have a lot of guy friends, but in the large scheme of things, is it completely pointless? some people would say so, because most likely when you move on (and by that i mean get married), you won't keep in close contact with your friends of the opposite sex (unless you're my british boyfriend who still emails me).

but you know what? eff those people. i say, if you're single, have guy friends that you don't want to touch! (or maybe if you feel like it, touch them even if you don't want to date them!). As long as you're still doing your duty to date and find someone permanent, why not have other relationships on the side that bring happiness to the boring and mundane days in your life.