Afghanna nodded right back at her.

“My name’s Rose—pleased to meet you.”

Ariella turned expectantly to Fang.

“Name’s Fang—King Fang,” Fang wiggled his eyebrows and lowered his eyelids at her.

Skip curled his lip.

“King?” Ariella looked puzzled.

“King ‘o the Streets, that’s me.” Fang dipped his head to her.

“You look…familiar.” Ariella tilted her head at him.

“You prob’ly heard ‘o me.” Fang grinned.

Ariella stood up. “Non—I have seen you before.”

“Uh, not likely,” Fang was beginning to get her meaning. “Y’know, doll, I just remembered I gotta…”

“You are the Retriever that stole my owner’s éclair au chocolat!” Ariella glared at him, baring her teeth.

“Never heard of it.” Fang informed her, backing up. She advanced on him.

Skip moaned.

“I think she means the chocolate-bread thing you stole from—” Rose began helpfully, only to be silenced by Afghanna’s sharp looks.

“Oui—the chocolate éclair!” Ariella snarled. “I must pay you back for what you have stolen.”

Skip cut his eyes from Fang to Ariella nervously.

“We can talk this out, y’know,” Fang began edging further backward. “Hey, I was a desperate, hungry stray—get the picture yet?” he chuckled anxiously.

“Non!” Ariella barked, growling as she bunched her muscles in a crouch.

“Look, doll, I ain’t about t’get into a scuffle with ya—y’might get hurt with these things,” Fang displayed his razor-sharp teeth, his namesake.

“Fa-ang…” Rose warned worriedly.

“Don’t do something stupid, guys,” Afghanna swallowed hard, standing up firmly.

Skip dug his claws into the cobblestones of the alley’s flooring.

Ariella sprang at Fang. Surprised, the Golden Retriever wasn’t about to bite a girl. He stiffened as she slammed into him, with more strength than he’d thought she had as she pinned him down, baring her teeth in his face, digging her claws into his creamy-yellow belly fur.

Ariella lunged for his throat.

That did it. In self-defense, Fang threw her off. She skidded on the alley’s ground, leaping to her paws immediately.

The ‘King of the Streets’ and the pastry pup faced off, circling each other. Fang showed her his fangs and she growled at him.

“You will pay for stealing from my human!” Ariella snapped.

Fang crouched.

Skip froze.

Fang flew at Ariella, the light of battle in his scarlet eyes.

Skip, without hesitation, slammed into Fang’s side and the two male puppies rolled over and over until crashing into the pile of crates next to the restaurant’s back door. The crates toppled over, spilling their vegetable contents onto the pups.

Ariella, Afghanna, and Rose rushed over to see if they were okay.

Fang emerged first, bucking like a donkey and flinging a smaller crate off of himself, tomatoes squashed messily onto his golden pelt.

“What’d ya do that for, shorty?” he snarled to Skip.

Skip staggered to his paws, coughing. He too was covered in mushy tomatoes. “Quit calling me shorty,” Skip growled.

“Je suis désolé—êtes-vous blessé?” Ariella spewed out a worried stream of French as she rushed to Skip’s side.

“What’d she say?” Rose asked Afghanna, who shrugged.

“I am sorry, I said,” Ariella translated for them politely. She turned to Skip. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine,” Skip muttered, walking a few steps forward and shaking his pelt clean.

“I’m okay too, thanks fer bein’ so concerned,” Fang mumbled irritably as he sauntered past Afghanna and Rose, shaking himself so that he was also tomato-free.

“Let’s get out of here.” Afghanna answered nervously. She nudged Fang with her nose, and then turned back to Ariella. “Sorry about the chocolate éclair thing. It won’t happen again.”

Rose lowered her tail and followed as Afghanna led Fang, who was glaring daggers at Skip, out of the alley.

“You were very brave to protect me from your friend,” Ariella said in perfect English, with her French accent slurring the words. “But I did not need it.”

“Are you kidding me?” Skip growled. “Have you seen him fight? Those fangs are his biggest, most unfair advantage. How could you be so stupid? Now he’s gonna chew me out whenever I see him—they’ll never leave me alone about this—” He stopped, looking at Ariella.

She was gazing at him, looking hurt. “You are in trouble?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Skip softened his tone. “Ignore Fang, okay? He’s really the only jerk in the gang.”

There was a moment of comfortable silence between them.

Skip coughed. “So, what’re you doing here?”

Ariella’s eyes lit up as if she’d just remembered. “I have been looking everywhere for you! My owner does not know I have gone.”

“Gone?”

“I am leaving her for a while.” Ariella looked sad for a moment.

“What? Why?” Skip asked, horrified.

She acted as if he should have already known. “To be with you! You have taught me so much about life outside my pastry shop—I want to try it out!”

Skip blushed for a few minutes, and then cleared his throat. “Uh, well, y’know, you can try it tonight—spend a night out on the streets—but…how about this? If you don’t like it by tomorrow, go back.” He scratched at his ear with a hind leg.

“Oui, that sounds fine.” Ariella trotted in a circle cheerfully around him. “I will go!”

“Go where?” Skip scoffed.

“Wherever the strays go at night,” Ariella informed him, blinking prettily. “But first, I have one thing more to do.”

“Which would be….?” Skip arched a brow.

In seconds Ariella’s blue collar lay on the ground before him.

“I am now looking like the Street Dogs, non?” Ariella smiled.

“Not even close,” Skip snorted, trying not to grin. “You’ve still got that bow behind your ear.”

“Oh—I will take it off.” Ariella twisted her muzzle upward and to the right, trying to snag the blue bow with her teeth in order to yank it down.

“No—keep it. It looks good on you.” Skip looked away from her after blurting it out. Clumsy compliment.

Ariella gazed at him for a moment, and then smiled wider. “Merci, mon cher ami,” she closed her eyes, then opened them again slowly, still grinning.

“What’s that mean?” Skip asked, panting with the beginnings of his own wide smile.

“My dear friend.” She nuzzled him.

Skip’s paws tingled. He closed his eyes and smiled. Then he stepped back, smile disappearing, and opened his eyes. “Um, yeah, so…” he shrugged, blushing. “Have fun at the Park.”

“I am going there?” Ariella asked. Her eyes sparkled.

“If that’s where the Street Dogs hang out most—which it is—then, yeah, I guess so. Good luck.” He turned to go, paws still tingling.

“I do not know my way there, Skip,” she suddenly said, sounding shy.

“Then how’re you gonna get there?”

“You will guide me, no?” Ariella batted her eyelashes teasingly.

“How do you rope me into this stuff?” Skip groaned, but he grinned.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Mon dieu!” Ariella exclaimed.

Stars were reflected in the lake at the Park. Skip and Ariella stood on the shore, gazing at the glittering reflections on the water’ surface.

“It is—magnifique!” Ariella breathed.

“It’s what?” Skip lowered his eyelids dryly at her, arching a brow in confusion.

“Magnificent—wonderful!”
 

“Oh.” Skip took another look. “Yeah, it’s okay.” He shrugged. “Haven’t you ever been here before?”

Ariella shook her head. “My life has been only the pastry store. Nothing more. You have given me something new. Merci!”

“Mercy? Mercy for what?” Skip scoffed, eyebrows sunk low.

“Non—no—en Français…in French—merci means ‘thank you’.” Ariella laughed.

“Oh. Well, uh, you’re welcome. Whatever.” Skip looked away, down at his paws, shuffling them.

“Where do we go now?” Ariella asked excitedly.

“I could show you Firefly Fountain.” Skip suggested, sighing.

“Pourquoi? What is this place?” Ariella asked, following as he led the way.

“I guess you could say,” Skip said without turning around, a sly look on his face, “a lot of dogs have been there.”

He led her over the red bridge, heading west, into a patch of purple-flowered weeds. When he emerged, fireflies flickered everywhere—the air was literally filled with them. His paws hit dirt-grass ground, lush and cool. He watched the fireflies dance around.

Ariella came up behind him, shaking purple flowers from her head, and