Do girls ever want to be just friends?

This friend of mine is really touchy and always wants to spend time together. I'm not interested in her at all. But everyone keeps giving me shite about it.

I have even been doing tons of stuff that Steve Carrell's character does in Crazy Stupid Love before Gosling fixes him to get her off my back. I constantly talk about my ex (who I am over for the most part) in order to make it clear I don't see her that way.

This girl is touchy with her best guy friend, but he is also a pretty good-looking dude, so it's not a good gauge. Maybe friends is the best she can do with guys who aren't interested.

I've had guy friends try this strategy with girls, but I've never known of girls ever doing it. By "this strategy," I mean the Friend Zone strategy. Purposely aim for the friend zone because that's all you've got, then try to make the impossible jump.

I'm just wondering if it's really a possibility that she just wants to be friends and nothing more. Am I naive in thinking this is possible?

Things kinda came to a head when she acted like it was a huge deal when she met my ex (who thought I was dating her at one point). She has just really been hyping up this encounter thinking my ex was intimidated. To be honest, my ex was a smokeshow compared to this girl, and I really can't see her being jealous once she actually met her. But I wasn't there after all.