When it rains, it pours

That definitely was the case when I drove up to Atlanta last night to catch dinner and a concert with some of my favorite college friends. I swear, I could single-handedly stop the state's drought if I drove up there more often. It seems that every time I go, there has to be some huge thunderstorm tying up traffic and messing up the roads. But I digress.

Dates, like rain, also can run bountiful or dry. And in the case of one of my friends, it's raining men. Three, to be exact.

Last night, somewhere in between the hummus and spinach dip, she related her story to all seven of us at the table, searching for input. She's pretty sure she knows which way she wants to go, which happens to be against most of the advice we gave her. Maybe one of you can break the tie. This is her story. (Names have been changed.)

A few months back, Beth's co-worker, Kelvin, set her up with his friend and co-worker, Earl. Beth and Earl have been seeing each other casually, but Earl doesn't really like going out, so they hang out at home a lot. Beth is a pretty out-going gal, so sometimes she goes to hang out with friends from work. On a recent occasion, she and Kelvin, a very out-going guy who can sometimes be over-the-top, went on a walk outside, and he told her he liked her and kissed her. Kelvin said he set Beth up with Earl because at the time he had a girlfriend and wanted to see Beth happy. Now that his girlfriend is out of the picture, he wants Beth.

To complicate matters, Beth just recently started talking to a man she met at a wedding (maybe they are the best singles events after all). They don't know too much about each other yet, but he seems cool.

So what's Beth to do? She wants to see the guy from the wedding more and get to know him, and she wants to continue to get to know Earl and Kelvin. But Earl and Kelvin are friends. And co-workers. Something about this is not going to work.

Do you have any advice for Beth? How should she handle this situation? Should she drop anyone or keep seeing all of them? What does she say to Earl and Kelvin?

I won't tell you which way she's leaning or my own opinion for fear of biasing your thoughts. At the end of the day, I'll post both our opinions at the end of the comments page.