Bullet wagged his tail happily as the Camaro pulled up in front of Steve's house. Steve's house was his favorite place in the whole wide world. The dog leaped out of the car as soon as Danny opened the door and raced onto the porch, dragging Danny behind him. "Whoa, easy, boy!" Danny said, laughing.
Steve opened the door. "Hey, guys, come on in." He patted Bullet on the head, and Bullet put his paws on Steve's chest, trying to lick his face. Steve moved out of the way. "Now, now, none of that."
Bullet was excited. Everyone was there. Grace had come with them, and Kono, Lou, Chin, Jerry, and Kamekona were all at Steve's. And food! Bullet could smell all sorts of wonderful smells. He could hardly wait!
Bullet looked around. Someone was missing. He spotted Steve's cat, Ninja, on his perch and bounded over to say hi. Ninja hissed half-heartedly, leaping off his perch and stalking off, sticking his hind leg in the air. However, he touched noses with the dog when no one was looking, winding around Bullet's legs. Danny came up and took his turn petting the cat. "Don't tell Steve," he warned. "Wouldn't want him to think we like each other or anything." It was said with a grin, and Bullet licked both Ninja and Danny in agreement.
"Bullet, let's go play in the water!" Grace called, and Bullet bounded over to her over Danny's protests. Grace ignored him and took the lead. They walked down to the water, and Bullet raced into the waves, then darted back to shore. He noticed a sea gull on the beach and darted after it.
After a while, Bullet was worn out, so he and Grace headed back to the lanai where Steve was grilling hamburgers. Bullet noticed a package of meat next to Steve. Before anyone could stop him, Bullet grabbed the meat and raced over to a corner of the lanai, lying down and tearing into the package.
"Hey, leave it! Bad dog!" Steve shouted. Bullet ignored him. The meat was juicy, and Bullet gobbled it hungrily. "Hey, Danny, you owe me a pound of ground beef!"
"Me? What did I do?" The blond demanded. He spotted Bullet. "Bad dog!". He wrestled the remainder of the meat away from Bullet, who growled softly at the loss of his prize. "Oh, man, no way am I eating that."
"So go get us some more," Steve said.
"Me? Why me?"
"Because it was your dog that ate it," Steve replied.
"Okay, fine, I'm going." Danny addressed the dog. "Try not to eat anything else while I'm gone." Bullet woofed and wagged his tail.
Danny soon returned with more meat, and Steve finished grilling the burgers. By then it was starting to rain, so the group grabbed their plates and headed inside.
"Great spread, Steve," Lou complimented him.
"Yeah, no thanks to Danny's dog."
Danny laid his plate down on a chair and came over to Steve. "Hey, you're the one who left the meat out. How can you blame him for taking advantage of it?"
While they were talking, Bullet spied the unguarded plate and rushed for it, grabbing the burger and just beating Ninja to the punch. He gulped down half of it in one bite before Steve noticed him.
Steve pointed at Danny's abandoned food. "Better watch your burger, Danny."
Danny turned around. "Bullet! Bad dog!" Bullet hastily gulped the rest of the burger and turned innocent eyes on Danny. "Don't give me that look. I saw you."
Steve chuckled. "At least you can't blame this one on Ninja. You caught Bullet red-handed. Or red-pawed."
Danny glared at him. "Like your cat is innocent. Weren't you the one complaining he got into the shrimp?"
"Here." Steve shoved a plate with a new burger at Danny, who took it, grumbling, and sat down. Bullet sat by his side, tail thumping, looking at him eagerly. "Oh, no, you're not getting any more of my food. Go lie down."
Realizing he was out of luck, Bullet went over to his bed in the corner and curled up, dozing off. After a while, he felt Ninja curl up beside him. He was well fed, he had his family and friends around him, and all was right with the world. He licked the cat lazily and went back to sleep.