A Jury Summons and the Rest is History
It began on May 29, 2012 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the Allegheny County Courthouse.
This was my second time being summoned for jury duty, so I already knew what to expect, or so I thought. I made sure I got there early and had a book to keep me occupied (people-watching can only get you so far!) I made sure to scope the room out to see if there was anything that could keep me occupied (i.e. a good-looking girl to subtly admire from afar). I looked down at my watch and it showed 9:30 and as I looked around I was not impressed with the room, if you catch my drift? Then out of nowhere one last girl walks in. Maybe this day wouldn’t be so bad after all?
Unfortunately, things weren’t all that great for most of the morning, I was sitting next to a woman who was very loud and continued to cough in my direction. To make matters worse, the beautiful girl I saw walk in late was put right next to a guy she seemed to be hitting it off with. I spent the next three hours trying to determine when and how I was going to make my move. The problem was, the smooth guy in my head was the opposite of the bumbling fool I was bound to be if I tried to talk to her.
We were excused for lunch and I began to walk towards her to ask if she wanted to go to lunch, but she was heading out with the guy she was sitting next to. I decided to cut my losses and just find somewhere to grab lunch by myself. I don’t even remember if I ended up getting lunch, all I could think of was how smitten I was, and kept going over scenarios in my head on how I could make contact.
After lunch, we were told to head back into the waiting room where I made sure to grab a seat with some open seats around it in hopes she would sit next to me. She didn’t even bat an eye and walked right past me. This day was beginning to go downhill, FAST! I knew the chances of me getting an opportunity to make my move were dwindling, and I was drawing a blank on what to do.
We got word that they needed us back into the main room for another case. They began calling names to put us in our assigned seats, and I didn’t think anything of it. As the seats began to fill up we were both still standing (there was still hope!). Finally, I heard “Jocelyn McCartney” and sure enough it was that gorgeous girl I had been “admiring” all day. I thought to myself, “well the name definitely fits.” All I could think of in that moment was please call my name…And sure enough that happened to be the luckiest day of my life, because the next thing I heard was “Eric Secen.”
I remember just thinking stay calm and don’t do or say anything stupid. I took my seat, flashed my best smile, and turned the charm on, in other words I nervously smiled and mustered up a “Hi.” She responded, in kind, with her cute little smile. We hit it off right away. She told me she really liked my pants, she even went as far as to run her fingers through my hair (Yes, before you think it, I used to have hair).
We spent most of the time sitting next to each other discussing the lady cop at the front of the room who was clearly having a bad day. As the afternoon went by I began to think to myself this is crazy, it’s never been this easy to start up a conversation with a gorgeous girl. I knew I needed to think of something smooth to get her number.
The lawyers were just finishing their interviews with the jurors to decide who they wanted on the jury for this case, so I knew if I was going to ever see this girl again I needed to make my move now. I leaned over and told her she should probably take my number so I could see her again. I told her that from my experience she’d likely be down here tomorrow and let her know I worked downtown, and would like to see her tomorrow. She agreed and took my number right before she got called to be on the jury. As I left I couldn’t stop looking at my phone waiting to see I had gotten a text from her. I felt like teenage kid again.
Finally, when I was about halfway home I got the text! I’m not even sure what we talked about in those texts, all I remember is thinking how unreal that day had been so far. It was like something out of a Hollywood movie. She told me I was right (first and last time I ever heard those words!), she did have to be back at the court house the next day for the trial. It was the perfect chance to grab lunch together and get to know her a little better. The next day came, and the trial lasted longer than expected so we moved our lunch date to a dinner date.
We had dinner at a restaurant in downtown Pittsburgh called Sharp Edge. When I say we had dinner I mean I ordered food, but was so nervous I couldn’t eat any of it so she ate her meal and mine. After dinner, we walked along the river and just talked for hours.
That was it, that sealed it.
At that moment, I think we both knew this was meant to last.
And that is the Story of Us.
