Sometimes a pickle is a just a pickle

A few months back Betabeat reported on a budding Twitter romance between former porn star "goddess" Bree Olson and Alexander Basek, travel writer and co-founder of startup Fortnighter.

It was an online affair that emerged in from the digital wake of Hurricane Irene. Ms. Olson was at home feeling bored and sick, Mr. Basek was on Twitter cracking wise. Since Mr. Basek was taken, it seemed like things would stay online only.

But According to The New York Flash, the pair met up IRL while Ms. Olsen was in New York celebrating her 25th birthday:

Bree Olson, also best known for being one of Charlie Sheen's ”Goddesses” was spotted in Tribeca on Friday evening with Alexander Basek, the King of NYC travel writers. Bree who was one of the infamous house mates of Charlie Sheen recently celebrated her 25th birthday in Atlantic city.

The pair shared an "inappropriate pickle" at Imperial Number 9. "This describes my weekend," Ms. Olsen tweeted suggestively.

The duo even appeared together in a video on TMZ where Ms. Olson discussed her attempts to leave porn behind and become a mainstream actress. We've reached out to both and will update with comment.

Bree Olson, Cover Girl, August, 2011

Bree Olson, legendary adult film star and one of Charlie Sheen's favorite goddesses, had been feeling under the weather the past two weeks. Cooped up in her California pad, the buxom blonde, who doesn't care for television,was entertaining herself by reading Twitter. A committed vegan and animal lover, Ms. Olson follows the ASPCA, which last weekend began tweeting repeatedly about the importance of putting pets into shelters before Hurricane Irene got New York all wet and wild.

"I thought to myself, what's going on with Irene?" said Ms. Olson, who reached Betabeat on our cellphone late last night. She did a quick Twitter search for "Irene" and came across the writing of Alexander Basek, a New York based travel writer and co-founder of local startup Fortnighter. Impressed with his style and glad to have found someone who could make her laugh, Ms. Olson tweeted out, "I have a crush on this guy I've been twitter stalking for about 5 minutes. He is hilarious! @Alexanderbasek Love me some east coast ginger."

The air outside was crisp and clean when Mr. Basek awoke Sunday, the storm having passed, but a torrent of @ replies from Ms. Olson's 257,000 followers continued, showering him with an odd mixture of jealousy and camaraderie. Mr. Basek quickly found Ms. Olson's tweet, although he wasn't quite sure who she was. "The name sounded familiar, and her avatar is her Playboy cover, so I knew generally. She links to her site in her Twitter profile. It doesn't take much to jog your memory."

Mr. Basek took a few moments to process the situation. In the kitchen, making coffee with his girlfriend, he explained, "I think a famous porn star likes my tweets." With her blessing, Mr. Basek fired off a coy reply, "@BreeOlson Thanks for the kind words. For the record, only my beard is ginger."

Ms. Olson, accustomed to men who can't keep up, continued her Twitter flirtation. "Nonetheless you ooze awesomeness." When a day went by without hearing from Mr. Basek, she tried a little playful fantasy. "I want 2 travel the world with @alexanderbasek While he writes I'll do my best 2 distract him by frolicking through hotel room in my panties."

"It just blew a synapse in my brain," said Mr. Basek. "That image flashed in my mind...it's the wallpaper for her Twitter account." Half and hour later, emerging from his panty-induced coma, Mr. Basek pointing out the fantasy was a bit of a tease. "@BreeOlson Gadzooks! I'm in a hotel room with you in your daydream and I'm still stuck writing on deadline. Seems unfair."

Asked what the attraction was, Ms. Olson said it wasn't anything too special.  "I love Twitter, but have you seen some of the stuff my followers tweet @ me? It's disgusting. Alex seemed nice and funny. Now my feelings are a little hurt, he hasn't tweeted back in a while."

Betabeat informed Ms. Olson that Mr. Basek had a girlfriend. "Oh, well that's a shame," she replied. "Maybe we'll run into each other on a trip some day."

As for Mr. Basek, he says the experience reminded him how incredible the internet can be.  "Ten years ago this kind of thing couldn't have happened. Now I can have a fan of my writing who is, just by the measure of Twitter followers, 100 times better known than I am. By the same token, people can see that someone with Bree's professional history is multidimensional. Although, in the end it makes sense: travel writers and porn stars both have pretty strong opinions about nice hotel rooms, I'd estimate."