Blake Madden - @blakemadden
He positively despised this crippling feeling of helplessness that overtook him in days like those... Days when María Isabel came from the hospital exhausted from her intensive treatment. Days where he sat at the foot of her bed at night just so that he could be there if she needed anything, as she was certain to wake up nauseated and with her head exploding. It was the least he could do... And at the same time, it was all he could do. And he would never admit it – it hurt him too much – that he'd been silently becoming desperate about her situation.
Little gestures were sort of a way Kieran had found to tackle this terrifying battle she fought alone. Breakfast in bed, or some dish she liked. A baked good, or even flowers – which was atypical to him, but he would do anything to make her feel special in the least bit. He knew why, but he simply didn't allow himself to think about it for too long. Sometimes, these little gestures came in the form of Blake Madden's sweet treats – something both Kieran and María Isabel positively adored. He would order a cake, pick it up, and leave it on her countertop so she would see it when she woke and know someone cared about her more than anyone else in the world.
He watched María Isabel retreat to bed, closed her bedroom door, and left her apartment – since he moved out, she had been able to move into a smaller, cheeper unit. So whenever she'd come from the hospital and he slept there, he would make a makeshift bed for himself on her couch. The long walk towards Blake's was also a way to distract himself from his reality – he would take the emptiest streets, with Jay-Z blasting through his headphones and just let himself get lost in the music and raw, brute beauty of Queens.
He was panting a little when he arrived, the late-afternoon a little too hot with the approaching summer. "Hey Blake," He announced, at her door, "It's Kieran. I came for the red velvet cake."