I apologize about the formatting glitch I had in the previous chapter, and really appreciate everyone who took the time to let me know so I could fix it. I promise to never publish without previewing again! *embarrassed*

Also, for those who have been asking, this is a multi chapter fic so there is lots more to come, probably about ten or 15 chapters in total. Just FYI so you know what to expect.

Thank you so much for reading, and a special thanks to all my reviewers. Hope you keep enjoying the story! :)

When Eleven heard Mike come through the door downstairs, she suddenly felt like her heart was going to burst through her chest. She didn't know why, but knowing that he liked her, that he was having a crush on her, made her strangely nervous about seeing him again. She stood there frozen until Nancy nudged her. "Sounds like Mike is home! You should go say hi." Even then she couldn't move and just stared at the ground. Nancy laughed. "What's up with you today?" El gathered up her courage and walked out of Nancy's room and downstairs, where Mike was busy taking books out of his backpack.

"Hi, Mike," El said quietly.

Mike jerked out of his seat. "El! Oh, uh, hi! I didn't know you were here! What are you, what are you, um, doing here?" He went to scratch his chin absent-mindedly and dropped the textbook he was holding, causing it to fall onto his foot. "OW!"

"Mike! Are you okay?" Eleven asked anxiously, stepping towards him.

"Me? Oh I'm fine, don't worry about me, just fine over here," Mike said, turning red. He picked the book up and put it back in his backpack and zipped up the bag. Then unzipped it. Then zipped it again. Then unzipped it again, and said, "Um, El, I got you a book, actually, from the library today."

"Really?" El said, her eyes sparkling. Mike smiled at her and her heart squeezed tight in her chest. Then he blushed and looked away, scratching his neck and kicking at the coffee table. He took the book out of his bag and she took it as an opportunity to get closer to him, looking over his shoulder at the cover. "Will I be able to read it?" she asked. "What is it about?"

"It's a book of fairy tales. You said you liked that stuff, right?" Mike looked at her hopefully. "I had to hide it from the other kids because, well, boys aren't supposed to read these kind of books, but I thought that maybe you would like it. I thought – well, the pictures are pretty, anyway. I'm supposed to return it in two weeks, but if you need to keep it for longer I can probably pay the fine."

She took the book from him, carefully opening it and turning the page. She was immediately taken in by the beautiful, colorful illustrations. For a second she almost forgot that Mike was there. Then she remembered. Mike thinks I don't like him. Have to show him that I do. So she stifled her nerves and turned to him and did something she had never done before: she gave him a hug.

Mike was clearly very surprised by this turn of events, and for a second El was worried that she had done something wrong. But Mike laughed and hugged her back, locking his arms around her waist and letting her put her head on his shoulder, and it was pretty much the best feeling in the world, almost better than Eggos or Christmas.

Finally Eleven let Mike go and Mike looked at her with a pleased but slightly embarrassed expression. "What – um, where did that come from?"

El shrugged, looking down at the ground and feeling her face get all warm. "Thank you for the book," she whispered, her voice sounding strange in her ears.

"Oh." Mike started kicking the coffee table again. "Um, don't worry about it."

They sat in awkward silence for a moment and El stared at the book in her lap, feeling like she wanted to melt into the ground. Somehow hugging him had just made things worse. How was she ever going to get her friend back?

Finally, El spoke up. "Mike?"

Mike jumped in his seat as if he had been deep in thought.

"Yeah, El?"

She looked at him shyly. "Will you read a story to me?" She pointed at the book. Usually she was embarrassed to ask the boys to read to her – she wanted to be grown up like them, and learn to read her own books to herself – but the pictures were so interesting that she couldn't wait to find out what the stories were about. Plus, she knew that Mike liked telling stories – that's why he spent so much time preparing what he called"campaigns" for the group – and for some reason she just really enjoyed listening to his voice.

Mike grinned, his nervousness seeming to fade away. "Sure, El." He grabbed the book and started leafing through it. "Which story do you want to hear?"

She shrugged. "You choose."

"Um, okay…" he scanned through the book. "How about this one? The Twelve Dancing Princesses? Do you know that story?"

She shook her head.

"Well, Nancy likes it so maybe you will, too." He cleared his throat. "Once upon a time…"

Eleven poked him in the side. "Mike?"

He laughed, "Already you have a question?" She looked down, a little hurt, and said nothing. He squeezed her shoulder apologetically. "I'm sorry El, I didn't mean it that way. You can ask me anything."

She sighed and looked at her hands. She hated asking questions sometimes, wished she already knew everything there was to know about the world, like Mike and his friends did. But she knew Mike tried to be patient with her and explain whatever he could.

Mike nudged her, making her smile. "What were you gonna say?"

"What – what is "dancing?"

Mike looked at her with an expression she couldn't read. "I thought you knew that word… when we... um, talked about the Snow Ball…" He sounded hurt. "You should have told me that you didn't, um, that you didn't know…"

She didn't say anything, just looked at him and waited patiently for him to explain.

He sighed and shook his head, as if trying to clear his thoughts. "Dancing is – it's something people do for fun, like playing Dungeons and Dragons. It's when you move around while you listen to music. You know music, right?"

She nodded. "I like music." Jonathan had showed her about music almost as soon as she had moved in to the Byers'. Some of it was too loud, but some of it was pretty, and it made her happy inside when she heard him and Will singing along to the words.

Mike smiled. "Yeah, me too." The way he was looking at her made her feel ten degrees warmer all of a sudden. "When you listen to music, do you ever want to go like this?" He started moving his shoulders from side to side and bopping his head back and forth.

El nodded, excited. She'd done that before. "That's dancing?"

Mike laughed. "Well, that's one kind of dancing."

"More than one kind?" El gasped.

Mike nodded. "There's lots of different kinds of dancing. Ballroom dancing like they do in old movies. Ballet like Nancy used to do. Slow dancing…" He blushed suddenly and looked down.

She had a feeling this was important. "Slow dancing? Is it like this?" she asked, imitating his previous movements but doing them in slow motion.

Mike chuckled. "No, El. Here, slow dancing is like this." He grabbed her hand and motioned for her to stand up. "You stand like this" – he took a step in towards her – "and then you put your hands on my shoulder" – he positioned her hands in the right place – "and then I put my hands on your waist" – he did so, making Eleven feel strangely frozen - "and then we sway like this."

Eleven had never heard her heartbeat so loud, had never felt so confused and scared and perfect and happy all at the same time. Mike's face was right next to hers and he didn't seem to be blinking.

"This is how they dance – at the Snowball?" she asked in a tiny whisper.

Mike nodded and swallowed a lump in his throat. "Yes."

He started to lean towards her and she was trying to decide what to do when Mike's walkie-talkie hummed alive, startling them both. Mike stepped away from her so suddenly he whacked his calf on the leg of the coffee table.

"OW!"

Lucas, Dustin, and Will were calling for him over the radio. Mike picked up, his face red and his hands shaking slightly. "I'm here!" he announced, keeping his eyes away from El's. "What's going on? Over."

Lucas and Dustin talked over each other, and neither El nor Mike could understand what they were saying. "Slow down, guys, I don't copy. Over."

There was some scuffling in the background, then Will took over. "We're going to the arcade. Do you want to come? Over."

Mike smiled, an excited gleam in his eye. Then he glanced at El, who was looking down at her new book sadly. "El? Um, do you want to go, too?"

She looked at Mike and bit her lip. Friends don't lie. She shrugged and gestured to the book in her lap. "I… I wanted to read the story."

Mike considered this for a moment, then smiled and nodded. "Me too," he said, and her face lit up with happiness. He picked up the super-com again. "Sorry, guys, I'm busy. But maybe I'll meet you later." He heard them start to argue, so he stated firmly "over and out" and turned the gadget completely off. Turning to El, he smiled and picked up the book, scooting in next to her on the couch. "Okay, so where were we?"