One of the commenters above - of course you can. Your friends were rude to act otherwise. But the opposite applies too and was my main point in replying to this secret - the OP's friend should be able to see the slash in it without being judged for it by the OP. Not everyone sees every potential relationship in everything, but just because someone sees something another person doesn't, it doesn't mean they "have a problem," just as it doesn't mean there's something wrong with the person who doesn't see it.