"You're just scared," Austin says. "That's normal. I kind of figured you'd have a bit of a freak-out after you met with Seth and heard all those offers." He grins. "No offense, but you do tend to fly off the handle sometimes."

It's hard to be offended when it's true.

"You just need time to digest everything," Austin adds, "and come to terms with the show's ending in your own way."

"That's the problem," I complain. "I don't have any time to do that. Everyone wants an answer from me immediately and I have no clue which project is the right one. The only thing I've gotten excited about so far is our invite to the Vanity Fair party."

Austin's face drops. "I was going to talk to you about that tonight. I have bad news. I can't go. Coach organized a lacrosse scrimmage for us in Phoenix and it's the night of the Oscars. I just found out this afternoon."

Half of me is disappointed by the news, but the other half is impressed that Austin cares more about his beloved lacrosse than he does about meeting Jessica Alba. I don't think I ever really realized how into lacrosse Austin was. Now that the season is coming up, he practices all the time. If I call him before school, his mom says he's working on his toss in the backyard. After school, whether there is an official group practice or not, he's out there. And on weekends, if he's not playing, he and Rob are critiquing their performance on a tape of a game they played last year. And guys say girls are obsessive. "I understand," I squeak.

"Why don't you ask Liz?" Austin suggests. "I'm sure she'd love to chat up Katie Holmes with you."

"I guess I could." It's not the same thing, though. The Vanity Fair party is like the Hollywood version of the prom. Everyone wants to take their boyfriend to the prom. But I guess if I can't take Austin, the next best thing is going with Liz. She's always wanted to go to the Vanity Fair party.

"I'll make it up to you. I promise." Austin kisses me. "Now let's get back to fixing you. Tell me about the scripts you're reading."

"Well, the first one is this --" I pause.

Austin's cell phone starts ringing and he reaches into his pocket and pulls it out. He looks at me curiously. "It's Nadine," he says and answers. "Hi. Yeah, she's right here." He holds out the phone.

For a moment I think I might throw it. "This better be important," I grumble instead of saying hello. I can't believe Nadine of all people had the nerve to call Austin's phone to reach me. I could see Mom doing that, but not Nadine.

"I've been calling and calling you!" Nadine complains without an apology. "Your phone keeps going to voicemail so I had to call Austin."

I don't tell her about my broken phone because I'm already annoyed. What is so important that Nadine had to track me down on my date through my date? "What's going on?" I say.