When Greg Mason, a cigar salesman for the Chattanooga Billiards Club, walked into work at 7 p.m. Saturday, he was told there would be a "special party" happening on the building's second floor.
This party's main attraction, Mason came to find out, was going to be "Twilight" star Robert Pattinson.
"I didn't even realize it was him when he walked through the door," recalled Mason, who was working as CBC's doorman Saturday. "I really wasn't star-struck too much, but seeing a star's face is pretty cool."
Pattinson and production crew members for the upcoming movie "Water for Elephants," which is rumored being filmed at least partially at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum this week, attracted a slew of fans to the CBC downtown on Saturday.
One of them was Jessica Eubanks, who waited 45 minutes for a chance to make her way to the second floor.
"It was probably one of the best nights of my life, as cheesy as that sounds," she said.
Eubanks had to wait to get to the second floor because it had reached capacity. After a couple of people left, she said she was allowed to go upstairs.
After maneuvering around bodyguards and "flirting" with production crew members, she managed to speak with the star for around 10 minutes.
"Knowing that he's such a nice person makes me like him more as an actor, that he would actually talk to us lowly citizens," Eubanks said.
The discussion among Pattinson, Eubanks and three of Eubanks' friends focused mainly on Chattanooga, she said. Eubanks asked Pattinson if he was "tired of Chattanooga yet."
"And he said: 'No, I love it here. Your town is awesome,'" she said.
Production crew members told Eubanks that Pattinson had dined at St. John's Restaurant on Friday and went to Porter's Steakhouse later that night.
Though Eubanks was not allowed to be photographed with Pattinson, she did manage to get a shot of him pounding fists with someone.
"I took the picture right after he talked to us," she said.
Mason said Pattinson sneaked out the back to avoid a crowd of 30 to 40 girls outside the CBC who couldn't get in because they were under 21. They were among many heart-throb fans in and around the CBC on Saturday who were "just (trying to) get a glimpse of him," Mason added.
Mason said: "I even had a girl tell me: 'I just want to be in the same building as him.'"
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