Dani wasn't sure what had provoked this reaction from Max. At first he'd grinned at the contact, happier than he’d been since that first moment of joy at her arrival. The sight of it had lifted and rallied her own good spirits, even though the conversation lagged, dropping into what could have been an awkward silence under any other circumstances. He stroked his thumb across her knuckles, lightly enough to trigger goosebumps and draw a shiver from her in the chill of the empty theater. And then, without warning, he had torn his hand from hers, stumbling over an apology as he withdrew. Dani’s empty hand curled into a fist, and she shifted away as well, shaking her head to wordlessly deny that he’d done anything wrong.
At the same time a memory stirred in her mind -- Max, on his last day at the hospital, grabbing onto her as he insisted that she was a superhero for befriending him and his mother, before pulling back from her again just as suddenly, red with embarrassment at his confession. The bittersweet tinge of hindsight had crept over the recollection, knowing that guilt must have played some part in his actions at the time, but it also established a pattern of behavior. Max shied away from showing her too much emotion, even back before anything had come between them.
And now he was rushing to finish with her. Dani rubbed her hand on her pants, trying to brush away both the sensation of Max’s touch and her thoughts.
“Um, of course. Just a second.” If her voice was a little uncertain, a little thick with emotion in the face of the constant roller coaster of their interactions, odds were it would be hidden as she lowered her propped up feet and leaned to reach for the bag she'd dropped on the floor upon sitting down. In typical fashion, her phone had slipped to the very bottom, wedged beneath a notebook. By the time she dug it out again, she held herself safely in check again.
Thumbing in the code to unlock her screen, Dani passed the phone to Max, careful to keep their fingers from touching again. Whatever had discomfited him earlier, the last thing she wanted to do was inadvertently make it happen a second time. “Thank you for taking a look at it, even if it turns out there's no need. As far as I know there's nothing damning on here anyway, but I'd still feel better knowing it couldn't be hacked.”