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"  I finally heard Kate&amp;#039;s version of events when we went to grab a drink after work on Friday. The last few days had been so awkward at work, what with Richard avoiding Kate and Kate avoiding Richard and me trying to split my time between them evenly. The three of us used to get lunch together, but since that weekend in the Hamptons, no mas. The weird thing was that for the most part, Kate was carrying on as though nothing had happened. I couldn&amp;#039;t exactly ask what was up, since she didn&amp;#039;t know that Richard had clued me in. I had no choice but to play this charade that everything was fine and dandy. Thankfully, on Friday afternoon, Kate came to me and said she needed to talk to me.  I suggested margaritas, and as I licked the melting salt off the edge of my glass, Kate folded her hands in her lap and bit back tears.  &amp;quot;Oh my god,&amp;quot; I said, abandoning my marg. &amp;quot;What&amp;#039;s wrong?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Josie,&amp;quot; she pushed the heel of her hand into her eye. &amp;quot;I am so embarrassed.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Kate!&amp;quot; I turned in my seat and grabbed her hand, about to put on the performance of a lifetime. &amp;quot;What&amp;#039;s wrong?&amp;quot; Kate told me the story I already knew, with slight variations (no mention of Richard saying, &amp;quot;We&amp;#039;re just having fun, right?&amp;quot; And heavy on him flirting with her on both Friday and Saturday nights, until finally abandoning her for &amp;#039;some skank&amp;#039; in a tube top. Yikes). When she got to the part about how she tried to get into Richard&amp;#039;s room, it took all of my control not to cover my eyes with my hands, like I was trying to block out the scariest part of a horror movie. &amp;quot;I know it was wrong,&amp;quot; Kate said. &amp;quot;But I just wanted to talk to him. I was mad.&amp;quot; She bit her lip. &amp;quot;This is bad, right?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;You lost it a little,&amp;quot; I conceded. &amp;quot;But it&amp;#039;s totally fixable.&amp;quot; Kate took a deep breath. I could practically see the wheels turning in her head. &amp;quot;I left out a pretty major part,&amp;quot; she finally admitted. My heart lurched. What could possibly be worse than trying to break into your co-worker&amp;#039;s room to prevent him from hooking up with another girl? &amp;quot;Which is....&amp;quot; &amp;quot;That was my first time.&amp;quot; Kate took a big gulp of her margarita. &amp;quot;Wait,&amp;quot; I paused. Richard had said they didn&amp;#039;t have sex, but I couldn&amp;#039;t tell her he told me that. Kate had no idea Richard had confided in me about this, and I was worried it would drive an even bigger wedge into our little group if she found out. Choosing my words carefully, I said, &amp;quot;The way you told this, I thought you guys just made out or something.&amp;quot; Kate shrugged. &amp;quot;I mean we mostly did. But we had sex for a few minutes too. He couldn&amp;#039;t, you know, keep it up. He was drunk.&amp;quot; This was an even bigger mess than I&amp;#039;d thought it was\u2014Richard was so drunk he didn&amp;#039;t remember having sex with Kate, and now Kate has formed some kind of weird attachment to Richard because he unknowingly took her v-card. &amp;quot;Were you, like, saving yourself or something?&amp;quot; I asked, afraid to hear her answer. &amp;quot;God, no.&amp;quot; Kate shook her head. &amp;quot;But I just didn&amp;#039;t want my first time to be with someone random. I wanted it to be with a boyfriend, or at least someone who wouldn&amp;#039;t see me as a one night stand.&amp;quot; She shrugged. &amp;quot;Those opportunities just never presented themselves in college, and then all of a sudden I was 23 and still a virgin.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Listen,&amp;quot; I said, shifting in my chair so I was facing Kate. &amp;quot;The guy I lost my virginity to was my boyfriend and he dumped me the week after we had sex for the first time. It felt like it was the end of the world, but it wasn&amp;#039;t.&amp;quot; Kate sniffed. &amp;quot;I know. I just feel so stupid. And naive.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Don&amp;#039;t,&amp;quot; I stressed. &amp;quot;Richard doesn&amp;#039;t need to know he was your first. And if you stop ignoring him and being so damn awkward\u2014or, even better\u2014if you can talk to him about it and be willing to laugh at yourself, things will go back to normal.&amp;quot; Kate didn&amp;#039;t look convinced. &amp;quot;You think?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;I know. Talk to him on Monday.&amp;quot; Kate nodded. &amp;quot;Okay.&amp;quot; I spent the rest of the weekend with Nina (Ashley went home for the weekend), working out like crazy (camera adds 10 pounds, baby!) and trying to eat healthy. Nina&amp;#039;s been dating Brad, the guy she met at the handcuff party, for the last three weeks. He&amp;#039;s friends with Kevin, so the four of us grabbed drinks on Saturday night. I insisted on drinks and not dinner. I felt like Kevin and I needed to get to know each other if we were going to play love interests, but I didn&amp;#039;t really want to date him. There was something oddly asexual about him\u2014even though he was incredibly good looking, there was no stirring in my loins when I saw him. After two martinis each, Nina and Brad joined evil forces and started ribbing Kevin and I about our on camera kiss. &amp;quot;We don&amp;#039;t even know if we&amp;#039;re going to have to do that,&amp;quot; I huffed. &amp;quot;Oh, we will.&amp;quot; Kevin grinned. &amp;quot;I think you should practice,&amp;quot; Nina leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs, giving me a wicked grin. &amp;quot;You know, like couples practice their wedding kiss.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;We&amp;#039;re not practicing!&amp;quot; I laughed. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s actually not a bad idea,&amp;quot; Kevin said. That was all Nina needed. Quietly at first, Nina and Brad started to chant, &amp;quot;Ki-isss, ki-issss, ki-issss!&amp;quot; People were starting to look, and I was feeling a little buzzed, so to shut them up I grabbed the back of Kevin&amp;#039;s neck and laid one on him. He was a good kisser, but like I said before, I felt nada for him. Weirder yet, I sensed he didn&amp;#039;t feel anything for me either. &amp;quot;Whoooo!&amp;quot; Nina cheered after we pulled away. &amp;quot;Happy?&amp;quot; I chased the rest of my martini and ordered a water.  Maybe it&amp;#039;s a good thing there is this mutual ambivalence between Kevin and I\u2014less chance of real feelings, less chance of getting hurt. It was exactly what I needed for now. Want more from Josie? Follow her on Twitter @BedroomBlog "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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