A quick one - Gender relations

I finally blog again! Man, exams are stressful! ANYWAY, back to my blog topic.

When in public, if you see two strangers, one male and one female, talking and obviously having fun together, how would you perceive their relationship? Would it be as two friends, having fun, or would you automatically jump to the conclusion that there is a lot more to their relationship - lovers, perhaps? Perhaps even engaged or married? Would it be perceived the same as two males in the same situation, or two females?

It's strange how people often, after seeing a male and a female get along really well, assume that they are a couple. I haven't really thought much about this until recently. I was at a ball, held by a students association at my university, and a good friend of mine, Kristen, from one of my classes brought some friends with her. During the night, I sat next to, and spend a fair bit of time with, a good male friend of mine. He's a great friend, but that's it. A few days after the ball, one of the people my friend Kristen brought along added me on a social networking website. When we were talking through this website, she asked me if my male friend and I were a couple. No, I had replied, and she explained that we had appeared close, and had simply assumed there was something between us.