Yes! i just got 2 of those in the last week and a half. Both from people I thought i was 'mates' with. Bastards never offered a friendly fuck when I needed one, but waited till AFTER I'd just broken a 6 month drought and then were all 'but I thought you knew'.
Male signals can be incredibly vague, especially with female friends they're interested in. Inside it feels as if you're boiling over with attraction and lust, but externally you must look as if you just want to offer them a nice cup of tea and a biscuit. This is the problem, though- nobody pounces on their mates in polite society, do they (apart from perhaps Almost Yearly). I've always been astonished that women can't tell exactly what I'm thinking, largely because I think men are lead to believe that their every desire is blatantly obvious.
I went through most of my adolescence and even some of my mid-twenties being the same way, thomasina, and I do know now that I must have seemed pathetic. I handled the getting-together with my present girlfriend a bit more matter-of-factly with more flirting and upfront declarations, and as a result it wasn't as messy, and in the end she gave in. I'd rather have a 'messy' situation than never try at all, though. Ridicule is nothing to be scared of.
I also seem to remember we had a thread on here once where a lot of people said that their present partners (if they had one) started out as friends, so it does seem to be a very common (if potentially dodgy) way of people getting together. All my dates that I've arranged from meeting people in pubs, clubs or parties have normally lasted for one or two nights at most. Getting together with friends is messy, but if there are no obvious complications that I wouldn't say anything against it.
One night stands, however, are definitely an appalling idea.