In early January of 2023, Catie’s friend Brandon Bouquet sent her a text regarding a friend of his, Nick Wheeler, from back home (Ashland). He mostly wanted to get the point across that “you two are the weirdest people I know and would be great together” so it had to be at least interesting, right? Fast forward a few days and the three of them met up at Pins Mechanical in Downtown Columbus. Nick was immediately smitten; Catie, however, wasn’t really into it for the stupid reasoning of “He’s as outgoing as I am and I don’t know how to handle that”. Also, because of his thick mustache.

Catie friend-zoned Nick..

Two months passed and Catie was having a get-together at Short North Tavern for her birthday. Brandon was coming, and Catie decided (after one too many drinks) to text Nick and invite him to her party. Nick agreed to join and ended up showing up a bit later. The biggest plot twist here is that Catie was unfortunately seeing another man and he was also at the party. Nick, being the reasonable and kind human he is, was respectful and kept his distance for the most part.

That was until Catie walked out of the bathroom a few hours later and ran into Nick, who pulled her into the back of the bar. This is an argument between the two of them regarding the exact verbiage, but something along the lines of “I don’t want you to date that guy, I want you to date me” was said and he planted a big smooch on her right then and there.

It’s safe to say that the next day, Catie had already ended things with the previous man and was from then on, attached at the hip to Nicholas Ray. The outgoing, “weird” personalities that Brandon saw before they ever did, ended up creating a beautiful and extremely fun relationship that brings us to today.