By Lisa Chmelecki,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Jackie and Michelle found a table in the back of the crowded comedy club and started looking around.

They had no idea what Brett Groh looked like.

The only photograph he posted on the Internet showed him standing behind an amusement ride at the Maine Mall with his entire face blocked by a giant plastic blowfish.

“We were expecting him to be really ugly. Why else would he hide?” Jackie Brundage said.

The two girls studied every man in the place, looking for someone who appeared to be looking for them. Then, all of a sudden, Jackie noticed the black track pants. They were the same ones Brett was wearing in the photo with the blowfish.

She pointed them out to Michelle, and the two screamed his name.

A 25-year-old amateur comedian, Brett was minutes away from taking the stage at the Comedy Connection in Portland. He had enough time for a quick hello.

While jockeying his way through the crowd, he rehearsed how he would introduce himself. Just as he decided to take the serious approach, his foot got caught on a chair and he stumbled to one knee.

The comedian on stage stopped talking. The entire place got quiet. And Jackie, a 19-year-old shoe store employee, cracked up.

After Brett shook their hands and walked away, she whispered to Michelle, “He’s cute.”

Jackie only went to the Comedy Connection that night last July as a favor to her friend.

It was Michelle who met Brett on an online service for people looking for “new friends.” Jackie had a boyfriend at the time.

In fact, she was getting ready to move to Hawaii with him.

“I wasn’t thinking anything at the time,” she said. “Since it was obvious that Michelle and Brett didn’t like each other, I just thought we’d never see him again.”

At the end of the night, they said goodbye in front of the club. Brett went home to Durham, and the girls headed to Gorham.

Over the next several days, Michelle and Brett continued to e-mail each other.

“Just as friends,” Brett said. “Believe me.”

Meanwhile, Jackie was starting to wonder if moving to Hawaii with her boyfriend was a good idea.

Eventually, Jackie and Brett exchanged e-mail addresses. He sent her more photos of him posing near kiddie rides in malls throughout Maine, and she laughed hysterically at each one.

Brett looked forward to her e-mails but he never thought he had a chance. Jackie didn’t tell him that she was breaking up with her boyfriend until it was done.

About a week later, Michelle invited Jackie and Brett to her house to hang out.

After the movie was over, Michelle went to bed.

“And,” Brett said, as he sat next to Jackie five months later on a bench in the Auburn Mall, “that was pretty much it.”