When Rodney is finally convinced I'm not going to be harassed by photographers, he drives away. We're completely alone. Well, alone with that one paparazzi guy and a sea of moviegoers, but they don't seem to notice me or if they do, they don't care. The ArcLight is very celeb-friendly, which is why I tend to go here even if the tickets are fourteen bucks. Plus, this is the only theater I know that lets you reserve actual seats in the theater ahead of time.

"It's just you and me. Finally." Austin grins at me, revealing his perfectly straight white teeth, and kisses me.

For a minute, I forget about work, my SAT practice test (Nadine gave me one today and I did horribly) and the shutterbug taking pictures of us.

When we come up for air, Austin says, "I could stay out here all night, but we should go inside if you want to catch the movie." We're seeing the new Mac Murdoch flick. He played my dad in Off-Key, a movie I made last year, and I never miss one of his films. Austin takes my sweaty hand in his and leads me toward the main entrance.

The ArcLight lobby reminds me of Grand Central Station. There is a large "departure board" that lists fourteen or more movies playing in the auditoriums and in the Cinerama Dome (which is this geodesic-shaped theater they built in the 1960s). I'm immediately overtaken by the smell of caramel popcorn, which is a theater signature. The theater also has a snack area and a café/bar that serves meals like tamales with grilled shrimp in lobster cream sauce or Angus beef burgers. We head right to the concession stand and Austin gets us two sodas, Raisinets (for me), Milk Duds (for him), and a large popcorn.

"How was your first day back to work?" Austin asks when we finally take our assigned seats in the theater.

The smile that's been on my face since I first saw Austin slides right off as I tell him about taping the promo and how blindsided I felt. "I thought I was okay with the show going off the air, but when I saw everyone today, I lost it," I admit. "I can't believe we only have eight episodes left. I've been on that set every week since I was four. Do you have any idea what it feels like knowing your whole life is going to change in a matter of months and you can't do anything about it?"

"I don't," Austin admits. He retracts the armrest (another cool ArcLight feature) so that I can lean on his shoulder. "I guess vacation is really over, huh?"

"You can say that again." I sigh. "On vacation, the only pressing thing I had on my agenda was memorizing vocab words for the SATs, but the minute we touched down in L.A. everything changed. Everyone is hounding me to meet with Seth and find a new job. They've got me worried about making money and keeping a roof over everyone's head. And I am freaked out about that, I really am. But part of me just wants to spend some time mourning FA too."