Taken?

Not My Place

That Sunday, as Ava was driving home from work, she heard on the radio that a man had gone missing in the area. She began to panic as the host began to describe the man she had let stay in her home, and grew even more anxious as the reporter stated that the police was considering a possible abduction. She quickly got home and found Danny, telling him what she had heard. "Dani, I think it would be a good idea to, uh, call someone and tell them you're alright," she suggested nervously. Danny, not wanting to have to explain his reason for leaving and in the process out Suzy and Arin on their fight, decided to not take Ava's advice.

"It'll be fine," he asserted cooly. However, Ava wasn't persuaded.

"If they find out you've been here, they might think I abducted you or something," she worried.

"Then I'll explain what really happened, but for now I don't want anyone knowing where I am," he persisted. Ava just gave him an uneasy glance. "Look, I can't go back yet, because I'll have to talk about something that I have no business talking about," he sighed. Eventually, Ava decided that it was his decision to make, so she just sighed heavily and disappeared into her own room.

Later that day, the grumps receive a message from someone who claims to have information about Danny. After a few messages back and forth, the person reveals the photos of Danny and Ava leaving the coffee shop. They state that they think that Ava lured Danny somewhere and is keeping him there. With no other choice, all the grumps end up accepting this as fact, and go to the station to show them the photos and messages.

The next day, there were already posters up with Ava's face on them, to which she immediately went home and confronted Dan about. "Dani, they have posters with my face on them up now. You really need to tell someone what's going on," she pleaded. Dan sighed, and despite really not wanting to, turned his phone back on and dialed Arin's number.

After a few rings, Arin picked up with a hesitant, "Danny?"

Danny sighed heavily into the mic and said, "Yeah, I'm here."

Arin was confused by the exasperation in his voice. He should be sobbing, shouldn't he? He should be screaming and begging Arin to come find him, shouldn't he? Isn't that how people who have been abducted should be like? He was snapped out of his thoughts when Danny said, "Look, I haven't been abducted, I'm fine, I went where I went of my own accord. But I won't be coming back until you and Suzy talk about what happened, because if I came back, I'd have to talk about it to everyone, which I don't want to do. Bye, Arin," he sighed and ended the call, shutting off his phone again. Instinctively, he leaned over and put his head on Ava, temporarily forgetting that it wasn't one of his friends. Ava stiffened only slightly, realizing that whatever he's running away from must be extremely stressing him out, so she just let him stand there until he got his grips back on his current situation. He quickly realized what he had been doing and immediately apologized.

"No, no, it's fine," she assured with a brief laugh. Danny was embarrassed and stressed, so he just went to the couch and curled into a ball and absorbed the silence. After a bit, Ava joined him on the couch, making small circles on his back in an attempt to soothe his obvious discomfort.

"Are you going to make me leave?" he asked pathetically. She shook her head and continued making patterns on his back.

"You can stay as long as you need," she assured. He gave her a grateful smile and continued laying on the couch.