Life after two longtime friends try '40 Days of Dating'

In March 2013, graphic designers Timothy Goodman and Jessica Walsh, two longtime friends with completely different approaches to dating, decided to test if people can coax love by forcing themselves into a relationship together.

They called their experiment "Forty Days of Dating."

They agreed to a number of simple rules: 1) They would see each other every day. 2) Go on at least three dates a week. 3) See a couples therapist once a week. 4) Go on one weekend trip together. 5) They wouldn't see, date, or hook up with anyone else. 6) They'd document their experience by filling out a daily questionnaire (which eventually were published on their blog months later.)

While their experiment had its ups and downs, the story ends in a marriage -- but did they marry each other?

HuffPost Live sat down with Tim and Jessica to not only discuss their "40 Days of Dating," but to also find out what's happened since.

Here's the backstory:

After going on a few dates at the beginning of the experiment, Jessica started wondering if Tim was actually interested in her at all.

"He was driving me nuts," she said.

"I just was scared ... I didn't want to ruin our friendship. I didn't know what my intentions were at that time," Tim admitted.

Even though they had their fun -- especially on the day that they decided to hold hands for eight hours straight -- things became tense between the two when the line between their friendship and their experimental relationship began to blur.

At around day 20, their couples therapist told them that they were both falling back into old habits that had likely led to the demise of previous relationships: Jessica was desperately trying to define the relationship, while Tim was too scared to commit.

When their platonic relationship became physical on day 24, Jessica thought it helped ease some of the tensions that had built up -- and as time went on, they both realized that they were falling for each other.

For the final three days of the experiment, the two took a trip to Disney World -- but those days ended up amplifying their incompatibilites.

"Something romantically is just not right ..." Tim admitted. "I didn't see us living together forever."

Jessica added, "We ended up breaking up on the very last day of the experiment ... and that was kind of depressing."

Less than three months after breaking up, Tim and Jessica launched their blog -- and it went viral. That meant having to do a ton of appearances together, which wasn't always easy for them, considering that their friendship was on the rocks.

Not to mention that they had to appear as if they were possibly still a couple since their story had yet to completely play out on their blog. However, Jessica was seeing someone else, a cinematographer named Zak Mulligan.

Despite Tim eventually expressing his love for Jessica, it was a little too late. Jessica ended up marrying Zak. As for Tim, he's still single -- but Jessica insists that he's walked away from the experiment with a completely different mind-set on dating.

"Now, I feel like you have much more capacity to be vulnerable and open to a serious relationship," she told him.

Tim and Jessica's new book "40 Days of Dating" is on sale now in bookstores everywhere.

And despite their story not having the Hollywood ending that perhaps we all hoped for, Warner Bros. is turning their journey into a film. They're also working together on another blog about a brand-new experiment -- and if this project is any indication, it's sure to be a good one.

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