Can you be just friends with someone you are attracted to?

I had this question in my thoughts after I asked the previous question.

Say, you see a friend of yours to be potential boyfriend/girlfriend material. You begin to like them. You ask them out, but it turns out they don’t feel the same for you. Can you stay friends with them? Will you not feel jealousy when they begin dating others?

I have had two friends that this has happened to, I told them I just didn’t see them in that way and for awhile they stopped talking to me, but every once in awhile will say hi. I still invite them to hang out and what not, but it is definitely not the same. What about you guys?