Shooting His Shot (and Missing)
The light from Jabari's phone shined on his face in the darkness of his studio apartment. At 7:00 AM on March 8th, 2025, a quiet morning in his complex which was unusual considering other mornings. Jabari had been up since five, scrolling through Instagram, Facebook and X looking for something—or someone—to fill that empty spot in his life.
That's when he saw her on Facebook. Dana Bridges. Her profile picture showed her in this ugly sweater standing on the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset, with the city lights behind her. Something about her smile made his heart skip. Without thinking twice, he clicked on the message icon.
Jabari: Hey, besides that ugly sweater you have a beautiful smile.
I like you. Will you be my girlfriend? Are you there?
He stared at the screen, watching the "delivered" to appear beneath his message. Jabari believed in shooting his shot. Why waste time with small talk when you could get straight to the point? His approach.
Twenty minutes later, his phone made the three dots sound. Jabari sat up in bed.
Dana: Sorry Jabari, I have a boyfriend and he has cancer. I want to be with him for his last two years. And I’ll take what you said about my sweater as a joke. ✌️
The weight of her words hit him like a bucket of cold water. He felt his face flush with embarrassment.
Jabari: I'm really sorry I didn't know forgive me for bothering you. #uglyassweater
He put his phone down and buried his face in his pillow to keep him laughing out loud. What was wrong with him? Up to his early morning shenanigans without thinking twice about it.
For the next few days, Jabari tried to forget about Dana. But Dana's had changed her profile picture and it kept appearing on his timeline—that smile, those eyes—helped you not notice another ugly sweater. The guilt of having intruded on someone going through something so heartbreaking.
On March 11th, after another night of no sleep, Jabari decided to take an early morning walk and around the nearby neighborhood and he made it back home around 9:45 AM, exhausted but unable to sleep. He picked up his phone and found himself scrolling through Facebook and seen Dana had posted a new picture of her smiling in happy state of mind. Jabari sends her a message:
10:15 AM
Jabari: Good morning my queen…….is he dead now?
Maybe this was why he was always alone.
The response came immediately.
Dana sent a middle finger emoji with a caption: Go to hell.
Jabari fingers moved faster than his brain.
Jabari: Your boyfriend bout to beat me there.
He stared at the message. This time, there was no response. Just the silence of being blocked.
Jabari burst out laughing he rolled out the bed phone flying across the room while he hits the floor watching his phone bounce harmlessly on a pile of dirty laundry in the corner. On his back he’s looking up at the ceiling fan spinning lazily, circulating the stale air of bad decisions.
Later that evening, as the sunset painted his small apartment in shades of orange and gold, Jabari picked up his phone again. He opened his notes app and began to type:
"Today I was the worst version of myself. Tomorrow I'll try to be worse.
Perhaps, stop trying to finding someone else, find a way to be worthy of being found.