Tapping Noise

Hey everyone, it's been a while since I've submitted my first story. But I'm back with another spooky experience. I will keep it as short and simple as possible.

My mom and aunt live with me. I stay over at my boyfriend's house a lot so I'm rarely here. The current time right now is 3:51am. Yesterday evening, my mom told me she heard a tapping sound coming from our living room and then our room. She described the sound as water dripping on the air conditioner. I notice that it gets lower and louder again. But not too loud. But she pointed at the ceiling which was weird. I asked her if she thinks it was the neighbors upstairs and she said she didn't hear their footsteps. My mom is very good at spotting their footsteps at night because it's not hard to miss. She said she first heard it in the living room and then our room so it made me question if it was the air conditioner, she did point at the ceiling which tells me that's where she heard the sound coming from.

I woke up around 3am and had been hearing the tapping sound for myself. I wonder if it was happening while I was sleeping or started happening once I woke up. I'm a light sleeper so I would've noticed the tapping sound before even fully waking up. It didn't sound as if it were already happening, it started about 2 minutes after I woke up. Well that's when I noticed it. I'm not sure. I don't feel like I woke up because I heard something, but I wonder what woke me up. Why is it happening since I woke up? Is it something trying to get my attention? I wonder if I stayed sleeping would it have started again. I was too scared to open my eyes at first. I'm still scared and think it may be something paranormal.