"Rafe!" I squealed from the floor, the dog in question laying on top of me and licking my face. I was just trying to find my swim suit cover up in my closet when he tackled me and started attacking my face. "Stop it! Kayla is going to be here any minute!"

I had only had Rafe for a month, but he was the best dog I could ever ask for. He was definitely the best birthday present I have ever received as well. He was such a sweetheart and very protective. Whenever strangers get near me, he growls and all his fur stands on end. He always pushes me behind him and he refuses to back down until I rest a hand on his back and tell him everything is okay. He was the absolute worst with guys. He's perfectly fine with my dad, but he hates it when any other guys get near me.

I've talked to my dad about it a couple times. He thinks that Rafe has either had a bad experience with boys or he's just more of a girl's dog than anything. I would bet on the former because he really gets anxious when guys are near me. He got used to my friend, Aiden, but other than him or my dad, it's a chore to get him to calm down.

His aggression with guys tends to cause problems sometimes because I take him almost everywhere with me. He hates being left home and I love taking him with me when I can. My parents love it as well. They got him for me for added protection, even though my dad has had me in self-defense and fighting classes since I could walk, and they are happy that he can do his job.

Rafe seemed to be very persistent in his lick-fest and refused to get off of me, even after I tried to reasonably explain that we had to leave soon. Crazy dog. I tried multiple times to push him off me, but he's huge and he's strong as an ox. "Rafe, stop!" I tried again. He was wagging his tail like crazy, showing how excited he was, and my face was covered in slobber. "If you don't stop it right now, you're not going to the beach with me!" I threatened.

He stopped licking me as if he had understood perfectly what I had said. I swear to God, he was pouting. You know that face that dogs give you, the puppy dog eyes that just make you feel so guilty and want to give in. That's the face he gave me.

I had always had a problem with puppy dog eyes, but Rafe's were ten times worse than any other dog I'd encountered. It was so difficult to say no to him when he gave me that face. I looked up at the ceiling to avoid looking at him. "Up," I commanded, giving him a gentle push at the same time. "I've got to get ready. Kayla's probably already in the driveway waiting for me."

He huffed as he finally gave in to my prodding hands and stood up, moving away from me. He trotted over to my bed before leaping on top of it and laying down. He fixed his eyes on me and watched me like a hawk as I moved around the room, resuming my search for my swim suit cover up.

I already had my suit on and a towel in my beach bag, but I couldn't find my cover up and I wanted it. I didn't want to have to put on shorts and a tank top when the cute sundress cover-up was so much easier going to the beach. Plus, it was cuter than the shorts and tank tops as well.

As I looked through my closet for the third time, my eyes landed on it wadded up at the back of my third shelf. I grabbed it, holding it up in the air triumphantly. "Yes!" I shouted, turning to face Rafe to show off my accomplishment.

Sensing my excitement, he barked loudly and happily.

Finding things in my room is always a chore and I can always pretend Rafe is proud of me for finding something when he barks from my excitement. My room isn't exactly organized. My clothes are always all over the place and it takes me forever to find a certain article of clothing on the days I'm being picky. My mom always complains about it.

I pulled the cover up over my head right when I heard a honk outside. "That's Kayla," I announced. "Come on, Rafe, it's time to go."

He leaped off the bed to follow me as I made my way out of the room, grabbing my beach bag as I went. I took the stairs two at a time, Rafe staying right on my heels as if worried I might leave without him.

We were going to the beach with a few of my friends. Kayla was driving us there since we had left my car there the day before so we could all go to the mall, and Lisa, Taylor and Aiden were meeting us at our usual spot along the shore. It's not an ocean or anything, just a relatively large public lake just outside of town. It's about ten minutes from my house.

I kissed my dad's cheek on my way by the living room. "We're going to the beach with Kayla and the gang!" I told him with a smile as I continued towards the front door without stopping.

"Be back in time for dinner!" my mom called out from the kitchen where she was washing up the dishes from breakfast earlier.

"We will!" I replied, holding the door open for Rafe to go through and then closing it behind us.

Kayla's small, rusted red car was idling at the curb, her blonde, curvy body sitting behind the wheel. She whistled when she saw me coming down the driveway. "Hey, sexy lady!" she yelled out the window as Rafe and I made our way to her car.

Kayla is your typical blonde. Her hair is straight and cut in a bob, she has brown eyes and her body is slightly curvy. The boys chase her around the school like dogs after a bone and she plays right along.

"Hey, gorgeous," I played along as I opened the back door for Rafe. He laid across the back seat and rested his head on his paws, accustomed to the car rides with Kayla. When I drive my car, he gets to sit up front. "Are you ready for some sun?"

"Hell yeah I am!" she exclaimed. "Now get your ass in the car before it all disappears!"

I rolled my eyes as I slid into the passenger seat, making sure that she saw it. I slid my seatbelt around myself, clicking it tightly into the holder. Kayla drives kind of crazy. She has never crashed, but sometimes I think it's only a matter of time.

Rafe was silent and still in the back seat as we began the short ride to the beach, country music playing softly on the radio and Kayla complaining about her latest boyfriend. I don't know his name; she changes boyfriends almost every week. If one ever stays longer, I'll memorize his name. This one didn't sound like he was going to be the first, though.

We were the last to arrive. Lisa, Taylor and Aiden were already there and waiting for us, blankets spread out and a cooler resting in the sand beside it. Kayla had another in her trunk that held some food.

Lisa is our resident redhead with the temper to match. It doesn't take a whole lot to set her off into a tailspin of anger. She has pale skin and freckles, she's short and tiny, but she is definitely a spitfire, despite her size.

Taylor is a brunette like me, but she has wavy hair while mine tends to curl more. Her eyes are brown to match her hair and she has an innocence that radiates from her. She's just sweet and adorable.

Aiden, well, he's something else. He has dark brown hair, pin straight and slightly shaggy. He's pretty tall, right around six feet, with a toned body and a six pack. Yeah, I can admit that he's one sexy hunk of man meat. No, I have never dated him, nor do I want to. He's like a brother to me and that would just be gross.

If I had to describe them all in one word, it would be pretty simple. Kayla is flirty, Lisa is temperamental, Taylor is shy and Aiden is a man-whore. That last one is a bit harsh, but it's true. He bounces around girls more than Kayla does guys.

"It's about time you two got here!" Aiden yelled to us from his spot on the blanket. He was reclining on his side with his legs stretched out and his weight propped up on an elbow. He had a bag of Doritos in front of him and it didn't look like he would be leaving them anytime soon.

I let Rafe out of the car and he immediately ran straight to Aiden, begging for the chips. I don't know what it is, but Rafe absolutely hates dog food. I've tried multiple brands and he just won't eat it. My parents finally decided to just cook up hamburger and green beans and feed it to him. I tend to share my food with him too, because of those darned puppy eyes of his.

It didn't look like Aiden was immune to my dog's adorable face either because he flipped a chip in the air for him, which Rafe easily caught in his mouth with a loud crunch. I shook my head at how truly spoiled my dog was and helped Kayla grab some stuff from the trunk. She grabbed the blankets while I grabbed the picnic basket and we made our way over to the blankets already set up.

"Aiden, go make yourself useful and get the cooler from Kayla's trunk," I told him as I dropped the picnic basket beside the blankets.

Aiden flicked my nose as he stood, making me grab it with a yelp as pain flared across my face. He tossed a chip to Rafe and made his way to the parking lot to do as I had told him. Rafe demolished the chip in seconds and stared longingly at the rest of the bag. With a glance at me, he inched closer. And closer. After Aiden's flicking of my nose, I wasn't going to stop him.

Before I knew it, half of Rafe's face was buried in the red bag and he was hoovering the chips at nearly the speed of light. I couldn't help but laugh and he looked up at me with a proud, doggy grin, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth.

"Rafe!" Aiden exclaimed in dismay, dropping the cooler as he looked down at his decimated bag of chips. There was still some left, but Rafe had managed to eat most of them in only a minute or so.

Lisa, Taylor and Kayla joined my laughing fit, unable to help it.

"Celia, control your dog!" Aiden ordered me.

I controlled my laughter and gave him an angelic smile. "Come here, Rafe." He wagged his tail and came to sit right in front of me, practically sitting himself right in my lap. "Who's a good boy?" I asked him in a baby voice, giving him a good scratching. "Where those yummy chips, boy? Were they?"

Taylor, Lisa and Kayla were rolling in the sand and laughing so hard they had tears making tracks down their cheeks. Aiden was glaring at me in that way men do when you come between them and their food.

"Cecilia Jean Moore, you better move your ass because I'm gonna get you for this!" he warned as he started walking towards me.

With a squeal, I jumped off the blankets and took off running down the beach, giggling like crazy. Aiden was right behind me and Rafe chased after him, barking. I'm a pretty fast runner, but Aiden is faster and he eventually caught up with me, throwing me over his shoulder.

I panicked as I realized he was walking me towards the water. "No! Aiden I'm sorry, don't throw me in!" I yelled, noticing the people around us smiling and parting to let him through. He kept going, ignoring my pleadings. "Rafe, get him boy!" I tried.

Rafe only plopped himself down in the sand and gave me a big doggy grin again, his tail wagging like crazy. The one time I could've used his help for real and he decides not to be protective and to let what happens happen. I shook my head in disappointment.

"I promise I'll never let Rafe eat your chips again!" I yelled as Aiden made it to the dock and started walking down it, more people grinning and moving out of his way as he did so. "Please, Aiden! I'm sorry!"

It was barely spring and I really didn't want to be thrown in the freezing cold water. The weather may be nice and warm, but I knew that the water was still like liquid ice.

Aiden paused. "Are you truly sorry?" he asked of me.

I nodded my head vigorously, my forehead bouncing off his back. "So, so sorry," I told him in the most innocent voice that I could muster.

"And you'll never let him do it again?" Aiden prompted.

"Scout's honor!" I promised, putting my right hand awkwardly up in the air.

"Celia?" he asked me.

"Yeah?" I replied, sure that I could see the light, that my feet would be back in the nice warm sand in no time.

"You were never a girl scout."

The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air. I squealed, landing in the freezing cold water with a splash, quickly trying to swim back up to the surface. The water was so cold that I could feel my arm hair standing on end as I started my swim back to shore as everyone on the dock laughed.

"Aiden, that was just evil!" I yelled as he kept pace with me on the dock. He had me convinced that he wasn't going to do it and then threw me in when I least expected it. "I don't even know why I'm friends with you!"

I heard him laugh, but didn't bother to look, focused on getting out of this water as quickly as possible. "You love me and you know it," he replied confidently.

"You're lucky I do," I mumbled, but I knew he heard it when he laughed again.

Rafe was waiting for me on shore, just out of reach of the waves. He wagged his tail and jumped up, putting his paws on my shoulders as he licked my face. "Yeah, yeah, you're forgiven," I told him with a smile, placing a kiss on his nose before pushing him off me.

He rubbed up against my side, providing some warmth from the breeze that had turned cold since I was covered in water. Aiden wrapped his arm around me from the other side, giving me even more warmth. "What about me?" he asked. "Am I forgiven?" He showed me his best puppy dog eyes and innocent face. For such a naughty boy, he had a good innocent face.

"Only if you stay right here until I get a towel," I replied, motioning to his arm. "The water is still freezing!"

He tightened his arm around me and I rested a hand on Rafe's back as we walked up the beach together and back to our friends. I pulled off my soaking wet cover up and quickly pulled my towel out of my beach bag and wrapped it around myself before sitting down on the blanket. The sun was bright and warm and my towel was dry so I would be warm again soon.

As I tried toweling myself off, the girls started pulling food out of the picnic baskets packed by Kayla's mom, most likely. There was a nice spread of food consisting of sandwiches, fresh strawberries, grapes and an exotic fruit salad with kiwi, star fruit, mangos and papayas. Taylor dug out some paper plates and passed them around while Kayla started handing out plastic silverware. Lisa and I decided to make ourselves useful and passed out sandwiches and dished out the fruit.

I was spooning some strawberries onto Aiden's plate when a low whistle distracted me into looking up. There was a football coming right at my face. I dropped the strawberries, preparing myself to at least attempt to catch it. I sighed in relief when Rafe leaped in front of me and snatched the ball out of the air only a foot in front of my face. I couldn't catch to save my life and that would have definitely hurt if it had made contact.

I rested a hand on Rafe's back and took a moment to calm my racing heart as a built guy came running after the football that Rafe was still holding in his mouth. The guy had dirty blonde, shaggy hair and skin that showed he spent most of his time outside without a shirt, like he was doing now. He smiled charmingly as he approached and Rafe growled at him when he got too close to me. The guy stopped and looked down at him in surprise as Rafe plopped himself in front of me, his ears back and his fur standing on end.

I put a hand on his back to calm him and his low growl cut off, though his stance didn't relax. "I'm sorry about him," I said, motioning to Rafe with my other hand. "He doesn't like guys much."

The guy nodded slowly, watching Rafe warily. "I'm really sorry about the football," the guy answered. "My friend threw it and he has pretty bad aim."

Before I could respond, Lisa jumped to my defense. "Well don't let it happen again!" she snapped at him angrily. "You're lucky that Rafe caught that ball or I'd be kicking your ass right now!"

The guy's eyes widened as he took a step back and put his hands up in the air. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "Really, I wasn't the one who threw it."

Lisa opened her mouth to snap again, and I shot her a look, making her roll her eyes and sit back on her heels, popping a strawberry into her mouth and crunching down on it angrily. I turned my attention back to the guy in front of me. "It's okay, I understand it wasn't your fault," I told him. "Tell your friend to watch what he's doing. Rafe, drop the ball." Rafe growled a little but made no move to release the ball that was trapped in his jaws.

"Now, Rafe," I repeated, my voice sterner this time. "Drop it."

He slowly dropped the ball and moved backwards to actually sit in my lap, trying to protect me from some random guy at the beach. Sometimes he goes overboard and he really doesn't like guys for some reason. I wish I knew why so I could try to get him over it.

"Wow," the boy said, watching Rafe as he leaned down to pick up the ball. "He's very well trained."

I nodded, smiling slightly at Rafe, even though I was slightly annoyed by him at the moment. "He's amazing," I agreed. "He's just very protective, in case you couldn't tell."

He nodded vigorously, a wry smile twisting his lips. "Oh, I noticed alright."

Aiden laughed from his spot where he was lounging and popping grapes into his mouth. "He's perfect for her, though. Someone has to protect her," he said, teasing me. He knew I could protect myself. My dad wouldn't let me leave the house if I couldn't and I'd even taken Aiden to a couple of my kick-boxing classes a couple years ago.

The boy nodded in agreement, making me roll my eyes. "Everyone should have a good dog that will protect them," he agreed. "I'm sorry again about the football." He gave me another smile and ran back towards his friends.

I turned my annoyed glance to Aiden. "You know perfectly well that I can take care of myself," I told him.

Rafe growled again and I looked at him in surprise, rubbing a hand down his back to calm him.

"We all know that, Celia," Lisa replied, starting to pick up the strawberries that had fallen on the blanket when I dropped the ball. "Rafe just tends to prevent any problems from occurring."

I just shook my head, unable to argue with her statement, as I finished dishing out the strawberries that hadn't spilled. Aiden grinned when I threw one at his face before putting some on my own plate. While my friends complained about the guys with the football, I tore the crust off my sandwich and fed it to Rafe, followed by a strawberry when he asked for more. Rafe rested his head on my leg after his snack and closed his eyes.