What makes you think you can be so wonderful? And what makes you think you can be so keen? And what makes me think I can be so hurtful? And what makes me think I can be so mean?
Girl you know I'm sorry I haven't been the best support But darling you know that I love you And I would build a fort to protect you From the wind
Max should have known better than to ask the patches around the bonfire where in Austin he should take a girl if they wanted to be alone. No matter how many times he tried to explain that it wasn't like that, he just wanted to see Dani, they were just going to catch up and talk, he was going to fix her phone and wanted to make sure that where they met was safe, they weren't hearing it. Max is pretty sure he will be in a state of perma-blush for weeks but asking around had actually been worth it. After throwing out a few of the more lewd suggestions ("pound town", "bone zone" and "the procreation station" were all summarily dismissed), Max texted Dani and asked if she would meet at the old cinema center on Walsh Tarleton Lane.
It was kind of an impractical meeting place but the boys assured him it was safe there. Set off a bit from the mall, the movie theater was cordoned off by abandoned tractor trailers and delivery vans, making it exceedingly difficult for the infected to squeeze into the facility. Even so, his buddy (a funny, good-natured patch by the name of Queso Fresco) took it upon himself to mosey up to the building with Max and give it a once over, just in case. After declaring it free of shufflers and runners and everything in between, Max waved as Queso Fresco sped off on his hog back to the compound.
He and Dani were supposed to go to a movie, once. Before Ma died, before he left the hospital, they had talked about heading over to the Capitol to catch a flick in the screening room there; he even heard a rumor there was popcorn with real butter. The outing was planned between two friends, of course. It was a bit of the old kind of normal you would find yourself yearning for and it was something he had wanted to share with Dani. But then, Ma died. He ran away from the hospital. Hijackings were foiled. The Annihilator struck. An RPG was thrown over the walls of the Dog Park. Vic went to jail. Things like movies and fun and popcorn with real butter hardly seemed real. To be honest, Max hadn't thought about the aborted outing since...until one of the patches brought up the cinema for a meeting place. There wouldn't be a movie, or candy, or holding hands in the dark but the choice to meet Dani there seemed right, somehow.
Max knew Dani was out at the White Trail over lunch for a friend's birthday so he didn't expect her right away. Still, the longer he waited, the more nervous he got. What if she got lost? What if she ran into trouble on the way over? What if she changed her mind? What if he never got to fix her phone and people hacked into it? What if she didn't want to be friends after all? Max sat on the hood of the truck, rubbed his hands together, and talked himself down. Everything was going to be fine.