"Jess, are you sure you're going to be ok?"  My Mom asked for the hundredth time.  She was standing in front of the full-length mirror on the wall. Her hands were fiddling with some silver dangling earrings she was trying to put in. I sat watching her as I was sprawled across her bed on my stomach.

"Mom, I am fine.  You and Dad go enjoy yourselves.  You guys deserve a night out."  I tried encouraging her.  Her anxiety was off the charts tonight. I felt bad knowing that a lot of it had to do with her concern over me.

My Dad's studio was having a function downtown, which included a free hotel suite for the night.  My dad had been trying to convince my mom it would be a nice break for them.  She was doing her best to try to talk herself out of going. She found a thousand reasons to tell him no, but he found a solution for every one of them.

"I don't know Jessa, with everything going on, it might be too soon for us to go out. I should just tell your Dad he should go and I can stay home with you." 

She was exhausting.

"Mom, Jax is staying at Uncle Aiden's tonight. I can watch the house. Everything will be fine.  Go enjoy your night with Dad. You two don't get a lot of chances to do things like this."

"I would feel better if you went and stayed with Cameron or if he came over here to stay with you."  My mom said.

"Mom, Cam is probably working tonight and we haven't quite figured out the spending time alone thing yet."  I picked at my fingernails to avoid her gaze. Even though my mom was a good person to vent to, I was still slightly uncomfortable talking about Cameron.  I knew I needed this, but it was really hard to say the words.

"You will, Sweet Pea.  Just give it some time."  She walked over and ran her hand over the back of my head.

"I can't let it go, Mom,"  I confessed.

"You will. You're just a little stubborn sometimes." She smiled.

"Mom, this isn't just me being stubborn.  Cameron told me he loved me that night and then lied to my face about where he was taking me. He really hurt me and he acts like he did nothing wrong." I felt like I was going to breakdown into an ugly cry as I said it out loud.

"Riley. We're going to be late."  My dad peeked his head around the corner impatiently.  He had a stupid lopsided grin on his face when he saw her. Every woman should have a man who looks at her the way my dad looks at my mom.

She turned around bashful in her silvery dress. 

I guess this meant the bare my soul conversation with her would have to wait for another night. I may have been almost ready to confide to her about my feelings, but I was not prepared to tell my dad any of the details.

"Does it look ok?"  She asked nervously as she ran her hands over the slinky fabric.

I sat there on the bed, gawking between the two of them as they gave each other bedroom eyes.  Weren't they getting too old for this crap?

"You are the most beautiful woman in the world." My dad said, crossing the room to wrap himself around her. 

"Well, I'm nothing in comparison to you. You look so handsome tonight." She smiled, straightening his tie.

I had to admit that, like Mom, Dad didn't look too terrible all dressed up either.

I was still in the room and they were completely ignoring me like I wasn't even there. They always acted like this when they were gaga over each other. They were throwing all these compliments out and the little girl in me was jealous and wanted some attention too. I had been feeling lonely and isolated. I never liked being left out.

"Well, I'm pretty too," I mumbled as I picked at a piece of fuzz on the blanket.

My dad laughed as he looked down at my mom.  She was trying to stifle a giggle under her hand. Something about what I just said amused them.  Dad walked over to me and ruffled my hair. 

"Yes, Jessa, you are very pretty. Just like your Mom. That is why I have so many gray hairs now." He laughed.

"Well, it would be nice to hear it every now and then." I huffed as I looked for more fuzz to pick at.

"We better get going or we will be late. Promise you will call me if you need anything." My mom said, turning to give me one last worried glance.

"Do you still want me to call you if I decide to burn the house down while you're gone?" I asked.

"Jessa." Dad scolded me.

"I was just kidding. I think so anyway." I pushed my lazy self up to climb off their bed and headed out the door to go to my bedroom. 

My plans tonight included eating way too much food until I was in a coma and binge-watching some crappy reality tv show where the characters were way too sexy and dumb for their own good. 

The house fell silent as soon as my parents stepped out the front door.  I was alone with just my thoughts, my pile of junk food, and some bad non-scripted acting on the television. 

I was in heaven.

I grabbed my phone and scrolled through it when I lost my focus on the show.  Gabby had sent me a text about twenty minutes ago.

Gabby: What are you up to tonight?

I sent her back a reply before settling back into my night of lonely wonders.

Me: Enjoying the quiet.  The parental units and dweebazoid are out tonight. It's just me and my shadow.

I threw my phone down on the coffee table and began flipping through the channels on the TV to look for something else a little more interesting.  My phone buzzed again, but I decided to ignore it. I was the queen of the house tonight and I wanted to enjoy it in solitary confinement. I felt bad for ignoring Gabby, but I deserved a people break tonight.  Besides, she was the one who dragged me to the pool a few nights ago, which ended in me walking into my parent's house wearing nothing but a towel.  I still was feeling slightly bitchy about it.

I made it exactly twenty-two minutes before I started to fall asleep on the couch. I woke myself up from my own snoring and wiped the drool coming out of the corner of my mouth.

So much for my awesome plan. 

I stood up and performed an exaggerated stretch with lots of squeaks and grunts.  I picked up the remote to turn the TV off and killed all the lights on the main floor before walking upstairs to go to my room. 

I pulled the blankets back on my bed and shimmied under them before telling Good and Bad Jessa goodnight.  They were already curled up in their bunk beds in their matching pajamas. 

I fell fast asleep in my bed into a dreamless sleep.

I woke up when I heard a noise coming from downstairs. I went to roll back over and groaned. It was probably Jax or my Dad getting a midnight snack. They both were notorious for raiding the kitchen at ridiculously late hours in the night and waking everyone in the house up. You could almost hear them chewing.  Sometimes I swore they pulled pots and pans out of the cupboard to bang them together so we all knew they were up.

Rude, much?

I closed my eyes falling under again when another loud clang rang through the lower floor.  Were they being serious right now?

My eyes darted open quickly in terror. I only just realized there was one mistake in my thought process. 

Neither one of them was supposed to be home tonight.

I went to reach for my phone on my nightstand and it wasn't there. I cursed at myself. I must have left it downstairs on the coffee table after I texted Gabby. 

I climbed out of bed reluctantly to see where the noise was coming from.   

The floorboards creaked under my feet as I walked down the hall heading towards the stairs. The noise was coming from the kitchen.  There were no lights on anywhere on the main floor.  The only sound was of items being shuffled around in drawers.

I tiptoed down the stairs and froze when I saw a dark shadow pass across the doorway and head towards the living room.  The shape did not look like anyone who belonged here. 

Someone was in my house.