"My turn, my turn!" shouted Lita.

She took a card from her spread and placed it down on the table. It was a blue 'draw two' card.

"Hey! Not fair!" complained Juan.

He groaned as he took two cards from the draw pile, while Lita giggled.

"Here you go," said Pete, placing a blue '8' on the table.

"Oh shoot, I've got no blues. Hmm, I guess I'm playing my wild card, and I'm changing the color to yellow!" said Ellie, rather excitedly.

"I have yellow!" exclaimed Lita, placing down a yellow 'reverse turn'.

"This is seriously not fair, why does she have all the special cards?" said Juan pointing at Lita. His comment only made her laugh harder.

The two parents and the two younger kids were playing UNO in the living room. They were gathered around the coffee table, with the girls sitting on the couch and the boys on the floor, on top of cushions. It was late, both kids already had their pj's on, but since it was the weekend, the parents had decided to indulge them and let them stay up a little bit past their bedtime.

"Oh dear, good thing I changed the color," said Ellie as she put down a yellow '2'.

"Ah crap, I have nothing," said Pete, taking a card from the draw pile.

His choice of words made the younger kids giggle.

"Oh, yes! I have a yellow card!" said Juan, placing a 'skip turn' card down. "Revenge!" he said to Lita.

"Noooo," she complained.

The parents laughed.

"Ah no, I've run out of yellow…" said Ellie as she picked up a card from the draw pile. "Oh wait! I can play this one!" She placed down a yellow '5'.

"Oh, thanks for that, honey!" said Pete as he placed down a green '5'.

"Here," said Juan as he placed down a green '3'.

"Mommy, can I put down this card?" asked Lita. She showed the cards to her mother and pointed at one of them.

"Let's see, hmm, yeah that one's okay because it has the same number."

"Yay!" said Lita, putting down a red '3'.

"Mom! Don't help her! That's not fair!" complained Juan.

"Yes, it is!" exclaimed Lita.

Ellie smiled at Juan. "It's okay honey, Daddy can help you, right babe?"

"No! I don't want help! I want to win by myself!" bit back Juan.

"Oh, I don't think that's going to be possible…" smirked Ellie as she looked at her cards. "Thank you Lita for that last card, you're about to make Daddy very unhappy."

She placed down a red 'draw 2'.

"Noooo!" exclaimed Pete.

"UNO!" shouted Ellie.

"Noooo!" shouted Juan.

"What? She's winning as well?!" exclaimed Pete as he picked up two new cards.

Lita found the whole thing so funny that she laid back on the couch in a fit of laughter.

"Ughh!" complained Juan as he placed down the next card. "Lita, your turn. Please tell me you have a card that can slow down Mom!"

Lita sat up again. "Hmm, I think I need to pick one up."

"Aw no!" said Juan.

"Oh yes!" said Ellie. She placed down her last card. "I win!" she exclaimed.

The boys groaned while Lita reached over to give her a hug. "Yay, Mommy won!"

"Well I'm going to be next, watch me!" said Juan.

As Pete thought about his next move, they heard the front door unlock.

"Oh, I think Lizzy's home," said Ellie, standing up.

"She is? Right, that means it's late for you two," said Pete pointing at the younger kids. "Go on upstairs and Mom and I will be up to kiss you goodnight in a few minutes."

"But Dad, I was about to win next!" said Juan.

"I don't want to sleep!" said Lita, throwing herself face down against the couch.

"We'll play another round tomorrow, I promise," said Ellie.

"Lita, c'mon honey," said Pete.

"No!"

"No? Alright then, you leave me no choice!"

He bent down and picked Lita up from the couch, placing her body across his right shoulder, causing the little girl to squeal in laughter and the mother to smile at the whole scene. "Let's go giggles. You too, buddy. Up, up."

As Pete carried Lita and escorted Juan upstairs, Ellie left for the front entrance to greet their older sister.

"Hey honey," said Ellie

"Hi Mom," said Lizzy as she finished hanging up her jacket.

"Well?"

"Well what?" asked Lizzy rather innocently.

"How did it go?"

"The movie was really good, I liked it."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Well, how did it go with Charlie?" asked Ellie.

A smile came over Lizzy's face. "Good," she said.

"You're blushing!" exclaimed Ellie.

Lizzy dropped her head as she blushed even harder.

"What happened?" asked Ellie.

"Stuff…"

"Oh c'mon, give me more than that! Please!" begged Ellie.

Lizzy laughed at her mom's reaction.

"Fineeeee," she said. "So, after the movie, we were walking back to the bus stop and… Charlie took my hand in his, so we held hands for a while."

Ellie squealed in delight. "And then?"

"And then… when we got to the stop… he turned to look at me to say goodbye."

"And then!?"

"And then… he said he'd had a great time."

"And then!?"

"And then we kind of… kissed."

"OH MY GOD!" shrieked Ellie, causing Lizzy to burst into laughter.

"Shhh Mom!" she said.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" exclaimed Ellie as she jumped up and down. "This is so exciting!"

Lizzy blushed in response. The smile on her face made it clear she agreed with her mom.

"Wait so, what now? Are you two going out now?" asked Ellie.

"Mooom!"

"What? Are you?"

"I don't know!"

"Are you a couple?"

"I said I don't know!"

"What don't you know sweetie? What's going on? What's with all the screaming?" said Pete, who had come back downstairs after getting the younger kids in bed.

"I think Lizzy has a boyfriend," teased Ellie.

"Mom!"

"Whoa, whoa, my little girl has a boyfriend!?" exclaimed Pete.

"Dad!"

"My little girl has a boyfriend!?" repeated Pete.

"Oh my god, you guys are the worst!" said Lizzy as she pushed past them and made her way upstairs.

"Do I need to go scare someone off?" Pete called after her.

"Stop!"

"Make him understand you're my little girl?"

"I hate you!" came Lizzy's reply from the top of the stairs.

Pete and Ellie looked at each other and laughed. Lizzy had come so far since they had first met her, and as scary as it was to enter into this uncharted world of dates, relationships and first loves, they could not be any more excited about it.

She had finally let them in.