It happens to every guy at some point. You plot your steps, take a girl out for a few times, and then finally go in for the kiss, only to hear "I can't, you're my friend!" It's a shock to you, because you thought the underlying sexual tension was so obvious, but you were in friendsville the whole time. Here are some ways to see this coming, so you'll never have this happen again.

1) You're her shopping buddy for "girlie things."

You do not want to be her sidekick for any feminine products such as makeup, perfume, or lingerie. Anything she uses to attract and please a man will be bought with someone she has no intention of attracting or pleasing. Think about this, if you wanted to buy clothes for a date, would you ask your date what clothes you should wear? Unless you're already her lover or boyfriend, the guy who buys her panties with her will never be the one ripping them off.

2) She tells you about her dates.

As the wise Dawson Leery would say, you don't want to be the guy she runs to to tell about her boy adventures. Instead, you want to BE the boy adventure. If you're hearing about her dates, it means you're not one of them.

3) After a few times hanging out, you're still barely touching her.

It is really hard to start getting intimate once you've had space this long in the relationship. This is why you have to start touching immediately

4) She feels comfortable crying around you or telling you embarrassing secrets.

Women know that men want a stable girlfriend, not an emotional mess. If she's crying in front of you, she is perfectly fine with you not seeing her as romantic material. It's the same thing with embarrassing stories. If she's not practicing "impression management" with you, it means she is not looking to you as a potential mate.

5) She says "You're such a good friend."

This would be obvious to a lot of men, but unfortunately a lot of guys can think "Well, we're friends, but we're not JUST friends." Trust me, if a girl says you're a friend to your face, and especially a "good" friend, it's over.

6) When you two go out, she's deciding where and when.

The leading man in her life almost always makes the decisions. While this is more flexible when you have been dating a while, if she's leading, that usually means you haven't manned up and taken control of the situation. When a woman has to lead, it kills attraction.

7) You've been acting like Daniel from The Karate Kid.

This movie is wildly entertaining, but some of the worst dating advice ever put on film. Watch the movie again. Daniel-San does get the girl (fictionally), but he acts like such a wuss and so indecisive that no woman in her right mind would see him as more than a friend. Watch how he's so hesitant to touch her, gets worried when her other friends come around, and never makes a definite move.

Watch out for these seven signs, and avoid the traits that come with them, and you should be well on your way to avoiding the friendzone. If it's too late and you are classified as a friend, don't worry about it. It's good to have female friens. However, in the future, you can now nip these things in the bud and make your own choice.