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Once and future BFFs Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie have apparently ended their feud of roughly 18 months, signaling their rekindled friendship with a meal, a sleepover and, natch, a photo op.

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The Simple Life costars arrived together Sunday night at Dan Tana's, a West Hollywood eatery that just happened to be rife with paparazzi to chronicle their every reunited move.

Hilton drove the duo to the restaurant in her Range Rover--considering her driving record of late, the fact Richie was riding shotgun really gives the reconciliation a genuine feel--and the celebutantes entered the restaurant side by side. An hour and a half later, they exited, Richie with doggy bag in hand, and sat adjacent to each other on a bench, text-messaging on their BlackBerries while waiting for the valet to bring the
car around.

"We are back!" they said before driving off.

But the reunion between the childhood friends didn't end there.

E! News has learned that following the duo's very public meal, the twosome retired to Hilton's Hollywood Hills home for a two-person, multidog sleepover.

Sources suggest that it was the new season of The Simple Life that brought the two back together. Apparently Hilton and Richie both balked at the fifth season's original premise--to stick them on a desert island--and banded together in protest. Instead, the new season will feature the two as camp counselors.

Theories abound as to why the best buds called it quits in the spring of 2005. The most enduring rumor cites Hilton being less than tickled when Richie screened the sex tape One Night in Paris for friends and family that had originally gathered to watch Hilton host Saturday Night Live.

Another persistent rumor was that Richie's growing fame eclipsed her role as sidekick on The Simple Life and she was no longer happy playing second fiddle to Hilton, when she logged just as many column inches in the tabloids.

Last April, Hilton famously issued a statement acknowledging the feud.

"It's no big secret that Nicole and I are no longer friends," she said at the time.

"I will not go into the details of what happened. All I will say is that Nicole knows what she did, and that's all I am ever going to say about it."

The feud was so bitter that the two shot their reality show segments separately last season for E! (E! Online is a division of E! Networks).

We're guessing the reconciliation will make Life much simpler this time around.