24 Hours

By: Toni

It was a Saturday evening and she sat home alone on the phone with her best friend, Ashley. Every time she tried to speak, she was interrupted by Ashley’s boyfriend. Instead of hanging up, she dealt with the rudeness because she was just that bored.

“ Toni?”
“ Let me guess. You’re about to hang up right Ashley?”
“ Sorry. We just wanna lay down and watch a movie in silence.”
“ Jealous.”
“ Don’t be. I told you what to do, but you don’t wanna listen to me.”
“ I’m not that desperate Ashley.”
“ Online dating does not equal desperation. It’s 2016.”
“ I’ll pass.”
“ Don’t say I never tried to help you.”
“ Later Ash.”

Toni hangs up and then slowly peruses the app store. “I’m not that desperate. But I am that bored,” she sadly tells herself. She clicks “download” on the Soul Swipe app and begins setting up her page.

20 minutes later, her profile is set up and the prospects are rolling in. She swipes right on every single chocolate man she sees. And just like that, she has a match. Before reading what he wrote, she looks at his profile.

“Shawn. 27. Lagos. Okay Nigeria! 6 foot 3. I can definitely work with that.”

She opens her first message, from her first prospect, and it was love at first match. “Helloooooooo Black Tinder!” she screams.

They talked about everything from food, to Nigeria, to school, to TV shows, to careers, to love. Eventually he asked for her number to text- possibly call and have more of a flowing conversation. Realizing she had multiple Shawn’s in her phone (#Thotlife) she asked him for his last name.

The minute a man gives his last name he should expect to be investigated. Toni could be the female rendition of Inspector Gadget if she wanted to, but she had other goals. She wasted no time looking him up, but didn’t expect to find much besides a deeper knowledge of where he grew up and possibly the type of friends he had.
She saw his friends alright! He had an abundance of ALL men ranging from different shades, shapes, sizes, but one orientation. The pictures were so explicit she almost passed out. This man was GAY!

So many thoughts ran through her head. Why would he write me if he likes men? Why would he call me beautiful? Why would he plan a date with me if he’s clearly into men???

She immediately called Ashley, then remembering these are the hours where she’s usually getting dicked down, she hung up and returned to Shawn’s page weighing her options.

But he’s so handsome! Isn’t that usually the case? Maybe we can just be friends.Then again, do I need anymore gay friends? What good does that do for me? But I wouldn’t mind a free meal and some drinks. I can always block him after the date. Okay, stop!

It was that very moment she came to realization with herself. She became content with the idea of being home alone, bored on a Saturday night. Dating apps were just not her thing and neither was gay or bisexual men. She’ll be 30 soon and single, but you know what… that’s okay. She put her phone down, pulled out a book, snuggled under her blanket and was content. She refused to settle.

The next morning, “Black Tinder” aka Soul Swipe profile, hidden….