There was nothing in Max's whole wide world quite like Dani's smile. It filled him up with such joy and for a brief moment, it seemed for a moment they had fallen back into their old rhythm; they were co-conspirators, best friends, partners-in-crime. But as as quickly as that beautiful smile crept to Dani's lips it faded, likely brought on by her remembering what a bonehead liar dumbass he was. An apology for keeping her too long already formed on his lips and he started to hang his head in shame...and then stopped. Being with Dani in this strange, wonderful place was the best thing that had happened to him in months and he wasn't going to let himself spoil it with his still prevalent feeling of shame. So he lifted his head, met Dani's eyes, and smiled.
"No, I don't need to get back," he said, sounding more like himself than he had all day. "I'm exactly where I need and want to be."
The genuine, heartfelt sentiment hung in the air for a moment before Max cleared his throat and stepped toward the candy counter. "...and exactly where I want to be is raiding this stale candy and checking it for mold." He opened a box of Goobers, sniffed the contents, and quickly let them fall to the ground. "That smelled like stale peanuts that a garbageman stepped on and then covered in cobwebs." Max kept riffling through the candy drawer, intent on finding something edible for Dani.
"Oh, jackpot!" Max exclaimed, pulling out a slightly dusty box of Junior Mints. "It's actually not expired! It's all yours." Max tossed her the box, while he snagged a slightly dented and only slightly out of date package of Sour Patch Kids. "Come on, let's do some exploring."
Max shook a few Sour Patch Kids into his mouth, fished the flashlight out of his pocket and turned it on. He waved the beam across the lobby, illuminating the dark corners to make sure nothing sinister lurked out of sight.
"So, what's new at the hospital?" Max asked. He wanted to ask her about Pete, ask how he was, if he ever talked about Max at all but he didn't dare mention Pete by name. Besides, as much as upset as he was with himself for hurting Pete's feelings, a part of him was angry with his friend. He didn't expect forgiveness but Pete's hypocrisy about helping the Hellhounds steamed Max up something awful.
"Like, uh, how are people there? Are people...good?"
Max knew he was being exceedingly stubborn and twice as obvious but he couldn't help himself.