The "Heroes" cheerleader is growing up!

It isn't many 18-year-olds who spend their summer furnishing their first house, but that is what Hayden Panettiere has been doing so far this summer.

"I have a big living room and I have this 14-foot by 14-foot couch," she says. "It is a huge couch and I filled pretty much the whole room with it. It is the hang-out spot. It is comfy and people can make a mess in the room."

Hayden won't be living alone. No, her "Heroes" co-star and boyfriend Milo Ventimiglia isn't moving in. Rather, her bff from New York will be her new roomie.

"It is not as if I am living in this house and partying by myself. What [else] is the point of having a house like this?" says Hayden, who will celebrate her 19th birthday on August 21 -- possibly with a party at her new digs.

But there are still some nights that the teenager still heads home to mom and dad: "My parents are down the street and [sometimes when] it is late at night and I don't feel like being by myself, I am , 'Hi, dad.' He is, 'Just come on over.' I am, 'Oh, okay, pull my arm.'"