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" &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m sorry I&amp;#039;m so bad at this,&amp;quot; Andy, the talk radio/movie review host I was interviewing for work said sheepishly. &amp;quot;I told them I&amp;#039;d be bad at this.&amp;quot; Truth be told, Andy had gotten better, but he&amp;#039;d set the bar so low with the first couple of shoots that he had nowhere to go but up. And it was unfortunate, because he&amp;#039;s not only cute, but also a really engaging writer. &amp;quot;I have an idea,&amp;quot; I said, checking the time. 12:30. &amp;quot;Let&amp;#039;s break for lunch.&amp;quot; I led him to a gastropub down the street from the studio. &amp;quot;Get a drink,&amp;quot; I commanded. &amp;quot;A real one.&amp;quot; He ordered a scotch on the rocks, and I ordered a soda.  &amp;quot;So what&amp;#039;s your favorite movie of all time?&amp;quot; I asked.  &amp;quot;Shawshank Redemption,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;Really?&amp;quot; I asked, surprised.  &amp;quot;Oh, absolutely,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s pretty much the perfect movie.&amp;quot; As he began waxing poetic about Tim Robbins&amp;#039; and Morgan Freeman&amp;#039;s on-screen performances and chemistry, I realized what was missing from these videos: Him. When we got back to the studio, I let him in on my idea. &amp;quot;Forget the script,&amp;quot; I said, taking the pages out of his hand. &amp;quot;Just talk.&amp;quot; Breakthrough! We actually got some good moments on camera. Dave&amp;#039;s going to be annoyed, because the videos are going to require major editing, which wasn&amp;#039;t originally part of the plan, but he&amp;#039;ll deal. I was feeling good as I left work to head over to my writing class. We instinctively all sat in the same seats as last time, and when it came time to read drafts, James and I decided to partner up. James&amp;#039; short story was about a veteran returning home from a fictional war with post-traumatic stress disorder, and trying to reenter normal society. It wasn&amp;#039;t bad, but it felt a little like a Very Important Story. It kind of beat you over the head with its own self-importance. &amp;quot;I think it needs to lighten up a bit,&amp;quot; I said when I was done. &amp;quot;K., it&amp;#039;s about PTSD.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m aware of that. But it needs moments that aren&amp;#039;t so heavy. When it&amp;#039;s all doom and gloom, all the time, it&amp;#039;s a chore to read. Throw in some happy flashbacks or something.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;That&amp;#039;s actually not a terrible idea. You, on the other hand, could stand to go more the other way.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Meaning?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Meaning it&amp;#039;s funny. And it&amp;#039;s enjoyable to read. But there&amp;#039;s no there, there. It&amp;#039;s shallow. She has this blog where she doesn&amp;#039;t write anything all that bad, and she&amp;#039;s worried her boyfriend will find out about it. The stakes are too low. She needs to blog about something that could be potentially devastating if anyone found out about it.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;You are absolutely right,&amp;quot; I said, surprised. When class was over, James and I walked out together. &amp;quot;Want to grab a drink or coffee or something?&amp;quot; he asked. &amp;quot;Oh. I uh\u2014&amp;quot; &amp;quot;K., I noticed the engagement ring. I&amp;#039;m not hitting on you. I just think you&amp;#039;re cool. In a totally platonic way.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;I think you&amp;#039;re cool in a totally platonic way, too, but I actually have plans tonight. Maybe next time.&amp;quot; I was lying about having plans, of course, but I didn&amp;#039;t want to tell the truth, which is that I had no idea if hanging out with James was appropriate. I&amp;#039;ve gotten burned by making a new male friend while in a relationship before. But it does seem like James and I are going to become friends, organically, over the next 10 weeks. I think I&amp;#039;m going to preemptively discuss it was Ben. Posted at 11:02 PM "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/a9611/bedroom-blog-082411/>