Amanda rushed over to give me a hug. “How are you feeling? Are you ready to see your face on a huge screen?”

“I’ve never seen it on one quite so big, so I’ll let you know later.”

Grant sauntered over. “You brought a critic for your date?”

“I’m only your critic,” Donavan said to Grant.

I laughed. “He’s teasing you, Grant.” When he still didn’t laugh, I asked, “How is your shoot-’em-up movie going?” He’d been hired again for his reoccurring role as Heath Hall, the teenaged spy. The role he thought he’d lost.

“Very well,” he said. “There are loads of special effects.”

“Are you trying to say there aren’t any in the movie we’re about to watch?”

He smirked, finally loosening up a bit.

“See you guys later,” I said. “I see my parents.”

My mom and dad had come together as well, even though they were, of course, not together. My mom was still happily married, and my dad was single again. He and Leah had dated only a few months, and last I heard she was back together with Remy. I wondered if I’d see them here tonight. I wondered if that would be awkward. Dad smiled as Donavan and I approached.

“How are you feeling?” Mom asked, sounding like she was the one who might not be able to contain her excitement.

“Excited and kind of terrified.”

“We’re proud of you,” Dad said.

“For what?” I asked. “Getting dressed up and coming to a movie premiere?”

“For seeing it through, even when it got hard.” That was big coming from my dad. He was part of the reason it had been so hard. But he had let go a lot in the last year. My mom was still as busy as ever, but I knew she was happy for me.

“What do you mean? It was never hard,” I said.

Donavan smiled beside me. He looked so good in a tux.

“So really?” I asked Donavan. “Are you going to review this movie? I know you’re done with the school paper and everything, but maybe for your first piece at college?” Donavan had been accepted at Berkeley, majoring in journalism and communications, and my plan was to be as close to him as possible when I wasn’t filming.

“I’m just going to be your boyfriend tonight,” he said.

“Good answer.” People starting filing into the theater. “Are you all ready?” I asked.

“It doesn’t matter if we are,” Donavan said, kissing the back of my hand. “Are you?”

“More than ready.”