A love triangle of some sort

Quick bit of info about me - I'm 19, I have never had a girlfriend, I've never kissed a girl and the furthest I have gotten with a girl is a hug. So I, started college a couple of months ago, and well as college friendships go, I made a few friends and good ones at that. I am particularly good friends with guy, called Richard. On Friday, he had a party at his house and he invited a few people from his old college (he didn't do well in college and is trying again, like me) and a few people from our course.Now, at this party he ended getting with a girl, called Jenny, they are now seeing each other. A few of weeks ago, a girl, called Beth, joined the course and went to the party. Now, Beth and Jenny hang out quite a bit so they are friends. A while after Beth joined our course I started to like her a bit, but I thought nothing of it. At the night of the party, me and her hung out a bit and I realised that I liked her, we hung out for less than half of the duration of the party but still a good amount. Yesterday I found out that Beth likes Richard but, as I said before, Richard is going out with Jenny. But the fact that Beth likes Richard, who is pretty much one of my best friends, is tearing me apart. I don't know what the hell to do. I'm not sure how Beth feels about Richard and Jenny going out but I'd rather not discuss it with her because I don't want to show her that I am interested. And I'm not sure if Richard and Jenny knows that Beth likes Richard. So I'm posting this for 2 reasons: 1) To vent out all of these thoughts and feelings somewhere. 2) To see if anyone can give me a helping hand in this tornado of emotions and relations.

First of all Richard is your best friend so you really do not want to hurt your friendship. If Richard is going out with Jenny then I do not see why he would mind if you were to ask Beth out on a date. Regretfully, you can not meddle in Richards relationship and it would be unfair to disclose Beth's feelings behind her back. However, if you would like to see Beth again then ask her out. If she turns you down just leaves things alone and I am sure you will find someone else to share your time with. You are only 19 and the world is a big place.

First of all I would just like to say that Buttercup, if you can read this then thank you for responding to my post and I completely understand what you are saying. Secondly, I should have included more information in the post but I was in a bit of a rush. (More information and updates below). I am not going to damage or do anything to ruin my friendship with Richard because I'm not that kind of person. Richard would not mind if I asked Beth out, in fact he would be encouraging but I feel that me and Beth are not a position where we could go from being friends to being in a relationship, simply because we don't hang out all that much and she doesn't see me in that way, I can tell. I thought Richard and Jenny were going about but over the past few days I have noticed that they aren't acting like a couple, they aren't acting like they are going out, so now I am unsure if they are or aren't. But even if Richard and Jenny aren't seeing each other, I am not going to get involved due to the fact that I don't want to complicate or ruin things. This also includes Beth getting involved with the two of them. I also don't have the confidence to ask Beth out, even if I did, I don't want to get shot down because I know she doesn't see me in that way. Even though stuff like that will happen in the future, I'd rather just avoid it. Yes, I'm 19 and the world is a big place and I have the time so even if nothing happens between me and Beth, I know it's not the end of the world. It's life isn't easy and I'm just trying to find ways to get around that.