Accepting Max’s response that he didn't need to be anywhere else with a nod, Dani followed him to the candy counter. While he dug through what was left, casting aside anything unsatisfactory, she stayed back far enough to avoid any of the dust getting onto her clothing. Though occasionally glancing back toward the cinema’s entrance, she primarily watched Max search. It was good to see him, despite whatever else was going on between them. Words on a screen were all well and good, but it wasn’t the same as actually standing a few feet away from someone. It hit Dani again just how infrequently she’d seen Max since he’d left the hospital, and even though that was her own choice, one that she’d had ample reason for making ... she’d still missed him.
The box of Junior Mints flying in her direction took her by surprise and she fumbled for a moment before ultimately catching them. “Thanks. Um, yes, why not? Let’s see if there’s any other hidden treasures. That’s worth blundering around in the dark.” And it was as good a reason to break off her thoughts as any.
Dani stuck close to Max, and the flashlight, carefully tearing open the box of Junior Mints as they looked around the rest of the lobby. She reached out to touch a shredded movie poster, trying to put it back together and make out which film it had been advertising, but the damage was too severe. Some kind of military thriller, but impossible to tell which one.
“The hospital is the same, really.” She fished a candy out of the box and popped it into her mouth, letting the dark chocolate melt into gooey mint before she continued speaking. Obviously Max wanted to know more about one person than he did anyone else, but she didn’t know what to say. Dani felt, for a moment, like she was precariously balanced between the two men -- the friendship between the three of them no longer a triangle, but simply an angle, with her in the middle. “People are good. Well, as good as can be expected, considering the world we live in, but …”
On an impulse, she reached out and gently squeezed Max’s forearm. “Don’t worry, I’m keeping an eye on him. He’s doing alright. But what about you? How are you holding up over there, by yourself?” The streak of protectiveness in her about whether he was being treated well by those murdering outlaws at the Hellhound camp had never quite been wholly quashed.
Before Max could answer, Dani gestured toward the door to one of the theaters. "Should we go in?"