Meet three of my best girlfriends, all of whom are pivotal characters in this story:
That's Sarah on the left, and Cathy on the right. I have known these ladies since my freshman year at Georgetown College when we joined the same sorority and we have been BFF ever since.
Jen (on the left) is one of Cathy's best friends from high school. We met through Cathy while we were all three still in college, and although I don't see her as much as I would like, for some reason it always seems like Jen is around when some of my craziest adventures have occurred.
These lovely ladies and I make an annual girl's night pilgrimage to Cincinnati, and this particular trip took place in the summer of 2008. Cathy, Sarah, Jennifer & I had been to the Maroon 5 & Counting Crows concert at Riverbend, and after the concert, we decided to go out on the town for awhile.
Upon arriving back to the hotel, we were all worn out and ready to go to bed. Little did we know....adventure waited for us in the lobby of the Westin Cincinnati. (Yes, thanks to Cathy's remarkable Hotwire skills, we were staying on the 13th floor of this fabulous hotel.) As we are walking up to the elevator, I can see an older man and woman and a younger couple getting on it. We get to the elevator and I can see that with 4 people are already inside, not leaving much room for the 4 of us. The older man says, "Come on in, girls!" and trying to take into consideration our comfort and safety (I was trying to think of the group, really) I told the man that we would wait for the next elevator. The younger woman, who had her back to us, turned her face slightly to the side and Sarah blurts out:
"THAT'S VANESSA MINNILLO!"
Then I saw it. I hadn't noticed before, but the younger man in the group was standing in the corner of the elevator by the panel with the buttons, hidden from view. I saw this face peek out from around the side of the elevator and........
IT WAS NICK LACHEY.
I kid you not. Standing right there in front of us! I almost died. And of course, right at the moment I announced to the group that Nick Lachey was on that elevator, the doors closed.....because, after all, I had told the older gentleman that we would wait for the next elevator.
For a split second, the 4 of us stood there and looked at each other in stunned silence.....and then immediately started mashing the buttons to bring another elevator down to our floor. The whole time we were watching to see what floor Nick Lachey's elevator stopped at (and can I just say, we were staying on a higher floor than he was.) We get in the elevator and I get off at the 13th floor because, after all, that's where our room was, right? - and as I heard the elevator doors close behind me, it became quickly apparent that my 3 amigas had left me on the 13th floor, without a room key. I suppose that was my punishment for telling Nick Lachey & his entourage that no thank you,we'll just wait for the next elevator.
The rest of the story is just hearsay - I wasn't there because I was hanging out in the lobby of the 13th floor waiting for my friends to come back (where else would I have been?) According to Cathy, Sarah, and Jennifer, they found Nick Lachey's room and put their ear up to the door, only to be almost caught by Vanessa Minnillo who was heading out to walk her dog. The three of them "accidentally" got in the elevator with her, where the following conversation took place:
Sarah: "That's a cute dog....what kind is he?"
Vanessa Minnillo: "Oh, he's a mutt."
Sarah: "I've heard that's the smartest kind!"
I will say that while I enjoyed my rest on the nice chaise lounge in the lobby (because at that point my feet were killing me), I would have much rather been in the elevator with my girlfriends - not so much to see Vanessa Minnillo in person, but rather to hear us try and make awkward conversation with her.
To this day, I have to admit that I am not sure everything that supposedly happened after I got off the elevator really happened. Then again, just because I would make a story like that up to make my friend who had blocked me from getting in an elevator with Nick Lachey jealous.....doesn't mean my friends would.
We later heard somewhere that Nick Lachey had been in Cincinnati that weekend for a wedding. Ever since then, on our annual girl's night trip, we make it our mission of the evening to find Nick again. Unfortunately, we have yet to do so....but when we do, I am going to make sure we get on that elevator with him this time.
No comments:
Post a Comment