When I woke up the next morning, David was still asleep in my bed. I took the opportunity to take a quick shower and brush my teeth so that he didn't have to smell my morning breath. Getting dressed in a pair of leggings and a cropped long sleeve t-shirt from Ohio State, where my brother was studying pre-med, I moved into the kitchen.

There was a few inches of my midriff exposed between the leggings and shirt, but I still wouldn't consider the outfit sexy or appealing at all. However, I had a lazy day planned and I didn't want to let David being there ruin that.

I did have a gig that night, but I didn't have to be there for sound check until six in the evening and I had a lot of time to pass before then.

While I waited for David to wake up, I texted Lina about my night and started cleaning up around my living room. Living alone allowed me to be as messy as I wanted to be, which usually wasn't a problem but I wasn't planning on bringing David home with me and wasn't able to prepare. Last night, we went straight to the bedroom so hopefully, he didn't notice all of the dirty dishes and fast food wrappers laying around.

Just as I was tying up the trash bag in the kitchen, David walked out of the bedroom wearing only his boxers. After a large yawn, he looked at me and said, "good morning".

"Good morning," I smiled at him. I wanted to devour him again, but my entire body was exhausted from the night we spent together last night. I felt like I would just turn to dust if we even tried anything more than just a few delicate kisses. "How did you sleep?"

"Pretty good," he commented. "You have a nice place."

"No, I don't," I scoffed with a small laugh. "But thank you for saying that. I was thinking we could go get coffee and I can drop you back off at your car. Unless you have to work, are you in a hurry?"

"I took the morning off, just texted my boss," he said. "Coffee sounds good."

He pressed his lips to mine for a quick kiss and then leaned away and said, "You smell really good."

"Thank you, that's my natural scent," I told him with a shy smile.

"Really?" he looked skeptical and then ran his fingers through my damp hair. "Is your hair just naturally wet too?"

"Yes, it's a phenomenon," I joked as he started walking back into the bedroom to get dressed. "I'm studied by scientists from all around the world."

"Wow, you really never seize to amaze me," he went along with it.

After he was dressed, I slid my purse over my shoulder and we made our way downstairs to my car. There was a nice cafe near the Jackroller that I decided to visit because his car was still parked on the street nearby from last night.

At the cafe, I order a black coffee and a muffin and David gets a large latte with two donuts. He beat me to handing the cashier his credit card to pay for both of our orders and I thanked him as we waited for our coffee and food.

"What is your job?" I asked him curiously when I realized that I never asked.

"I'm a project manager for a software company downtown," he answered me. "It's just a boring office job, mostly just a lot of meetings."

"Sounds fun," I responded. In a way, I was kind of jealous of his 'boring office job' because it probably gave him a stable income. He knew that he had a paycheck coming each month and he knew exactly how much he'd make. Although I did love what I did, it was stressful knowing that if I didn't get enough work that month, I'd struggle with paying all of my bills. I never knew what my income would look like the next month and it was all sporadic. Luckily, I'd grown a bit of a savings, so it wasn't as stressful anymore, but when I first got started it was scary.

"Oh, it's a blast," he said sarcastically.

We found a table near the window where we could look outside. It looked very gloomy outside, the sky was gray and dark with the threat of rain. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with David, but I also wanted to get home before the storm in order to stay dry.

"So my buddy is having a Halloween party next weekend," David told me while we ate. "It's a costume party, so if that's not your thing, you don't have to come. But I think it'll be fun."

"That does sound fun. I have to work next weekend though, there's a Halloween bash kind of concert," I said apologetically and I could already start to feel our relationship slipping out of my hands. One of the biggest obstacles in my relationships was that I always had to work on weekend nights, when the most exciting things are happening. "I'm sorry, I really would like to go."

"That's okay," he assured me, not looking bothered at all. "Maybe I could stop by your thing before the party."

"I go on at about eleven," I told him. "I will be dressed as a redheaded Wednesday Adams."

"Really? What made you decide on that?" he seemed surprised by my choice.

"I found a dress at the thrift store that looked like something she'd wear," I admitted to him. "And I already have a good pair of shoes to go with it. What are you going to go as? A hot lumberjack?"

"I think that's what I do every day," he said with a light laugh before adding, "I'm going to be Popeye. I was pressured into it."

"By who?" I wondered, feeling amused at the thought of David dressed up like an old time sailor.

"One of my friends, who thinks it's funny that I go as Popeye and he goes as Spinach," he told me the grand idea, and I had to laugh. "And another friend, who lost a bet, will be my Olive and he's not too thrilled about it."

"How romantic," I cooed teasingly. "I really wish I could be there to see that. Take pictures for me?"

"I'll do my best," he promised me.

We sat and ate for a while, but decided to say our goodbyes when the thunder started crashing outside. He had to get ready for work and I had to get home before the rain started. We shared a short kiss outside and he promised to text me later before we parted ways.

I was excited to start my lazy day, so I went straight home. As I was grabbing the mail from my box, my phone started to ring. I figured it was David, maybe telling me that he forgot something at my house or just wanting to talk some more.

Surprising to me, the caller ID told me that it was my mom that was calling me.

"Hello," I answered the call, taking my mail and going upstairs.

"Hi dear, how are you doing?" she asked me.

"Pretty good," I said to her.

"Abigail told us about your big concert," she said. "Congratulations, it sounds like it's a big deal for you."

"Yeah, it is," I agreed. "I'll send you the video after it's over, I'm really excited about it."

"Well good, I'm excited to see it," she told me. After my parents came around to the idea of me pursuing a career in music, they had traveled to Cincinnati a few times to see some of my shows, but it was just not their thing. They were a conservative middle aged couple and felt very uncomfortable in the grungy, dirty bars that I had been playing in at the time. They also hated drunk people and large crowds, so I understood why they wouldn't come to shows and wasn't bothered by it, but felt happy that they'd started watching the recordings that I'd send them.

"What's up, Mom?" I asked her, trying to get to the point of the call. She had a tendency to spend a lot of time on small talk during a phone call before getting to the point of why she called in the first place.

"I just wanted to call and check in on you," she assured me quickly. "Are you doing okay? Do you need anything?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Mom," I answered her as I began the climb up the stairs to my apartment. "How are you doing?"

"Just got back from my book club meeting, have you read The Guest List? It was Denise's pick for our next book, and I'm just not sure if I'll like it," she told me absently. I tried to take long, slow breaths to avoid heaving into the phone after the first flight of stairs.

"No, I haven't. I don't really have that much time to read," I reminded her. After being a stay at home mom as her kids grew up, she never really got a job again after we were old enough to take care of ourselves. She took a few part time gigs and volunteer opportunities to stay busy, but used a lot of her time to socialize with her friends with activities like book clubs and brunch. It was great that she had friends and got to see them often, but she always forgot that I didn't have that kind of time on my hands.

"Well, hopefully you can grab a copy. Maybe you can help me get through it, in case I need some motivation," she suggested, as if I didn't just tell her that I didn't have time to sit down and read. I did appreciate the fact that she was offering me a bonding opportunity though, so maybe I'd read the Spark Notes or something, so that I could at least hold a conversation about the plot.

"Yeah, I'll see if I can," I told her as I was approaching my door. From down the hallway, I noticed that there was a yellow paper taped to my door. Usually if the landlord or maintenance needed inside of the apartment, they'd leave a note with a 24 hour notice, so I assumed it was just that until I got closer.

It was a Post-It note stuck by the peep hole with a crude drawing of a sheep. At first, I was confused and just said into the phone, "Mom, I have to go, but let me know how the book goes."

"Okay, I'll keep you posted. Love you, Maren."

"Love you too," I said before hanging up, taking the note off of my door before starting the grueling process of getting my door to open. Once the call was over and I was inside, it clicked for me that a baby sheep is called a lamb. Did the person who had been sending me those weird gifts actually come to my apartment? The building had no security and they already showed me that they had my address by sending the CD and other gifts, but I still didn't like the idea of them physically showing up there. Not to mention how creepy it was that all they did was leave a bad drawing of a lamb.

Until I walked into my kitchen to get a drink and noticed another Post-It on my kitchen counter. That was when I realized that they somehow got inside of my apartment. When I made this realization, it felt like all of the wind knocked out of my lungs and I had to lean against the counter to support my weight so that I didn't collapse.

Upon more investigation of the Post-It, I saw two words written on the paper that read 'Bad Girl'. I felt nauseous and terrified.

I could excuse the gifts as being a misguided form of this person showing their affection, but breaking into my house? Not only was that a clear invasion of privacy, but it was illegal.

Should I call the police? I knew the building had security cameras, but they hadn't worked since I moved in, so the only evidence I had was the creepy note.

Feeling paranoid that they might still be in my apartment somehow, I grabbed the biggest kitchen knife from the block on the counter and started looking around. I checked all of my cabinets and drawers to see if they took anything, but all of my belongings seemed to be in place and there was no sign of anybody else being there. I was almost starting to feel like I imagined the Post-It altogether.

Until I noticed that the bracelet that I received yesterday wasn't on the table where I left it. When I opened the package yesterday, I tossed it onto my entry way table and left for my gig at Jack's but it wasn't there anymore. I checked the small drawers of the table but came up empty.

Why would they break into my apartment just to take back something they gave me? I was almost as confused as I was scared.

I didn't think that the police would be able, or willing, to do anything considering the intruder didn't steal anything except for the bracelet that I didn't really have any evidence of owning in the first place. They could question other people in the building, maybe get security footage from other buildings of the people coming in and out. Would they be willing to go through all of that work for what could have been a home invasion? Or would they say that the note was probably just left by David as a prank?

I was worried that if I called the police, it could make this person angry and by the 'bad girl' comment on the note, they already were. I could be make that worse by involving the police, and if they weren't willing to help, it could be a risk for nothing.

Instead of calling the police, I frantically called Lina to explain the situation to her. I really wanted to call Abigail, but I also didn't want to tell my sister what was going on because I didn't want to freak her out. Abigail was so far away, there wasn't really anything she could do to help me. Lina, however, only lived a few minutes away and after I filled her in as I was on the verge of tears, she insisted on coming right over.

"Nothing was stolen? You're sure?" she questioned me.

I nodded. "I'm sure. I don't know what I did to make her so angry."

"Maybe she was upset that you didn't wear the bracelet to Jack's last night?" she offered a theory. "That's so fucking creepy, to think that she would care what jewelry you were wearing."

"I had sex last night," I said out loud. "And she sent me a CD of love songs, sent me flowers. It's even creepier to think that she knows that I had sex last night though. I feel like I'm going to be sick."

Lina hugged me close to her in an attempt to keep me calm. "Who did you sleep with?" she asked me.

"That guy you suggested at the bar the other night, he showed up at Jack's yesterday and we hooked up," I informed her. "I don't know him that well, so I guess it's possible that he took the bracelet but that doesn't explain the note."

"Unless he's the one that's been sending you the letters and gifts too," she said. "But you were the one that approached him, so that's not very likely I guess."

"I can't stay here," I realized. "I have goosebumps just being in here right now. I don't know what I'm going to do."

I couldn't figure out how this person got into my apartment in the first place. I knew that the original lock was shitty and might have been easy to pick open, but I just had a new lock added to the door last year that was supposed to be unbreakable. It was even locked when I got home, just how I left it this morning. I left one window unlocked in my bedroom, but I was on the third floor of the building with no trees or anything around to climb up.

None of this made sense.

"It's going to be okay," Lina assured me in a comforting voice. "We'll get to the bottom of this, Maren."

I allowed her words to comfort me, even though I didn't have much faith.