They may have been spotted smooching on the Gossip Girl set, but there's no need to worry for Blake Lively — Hilary Duff and Penn Badgley are strictly pals. “I’ve known him for a few years. We lived in the same neighborhood in LA growing up. And they’re wonderful! Blake has been so sweet to me,” Hilary, the newest addition to the CW hit’s cast, told In Touch of her on-screen suitor Penn and his longtime girlfriend, fellow Gossip Girl Blake Lively, at JCPenney and Charlotte Ronson's launch of I Heart Ronson in New York. The actress also had a chance to work with the show’s guest star Tyra Banks. “I love her. I’ve done her show so many times. It was exciting and fun to work with her in a different atmosphere,” Hilary added. The blond beauty will play a celebrity who attends NYU and rooms with Jessica Szohr’s character Vanessa in the teen drama’s third season, which premieres on September 14.