El thought "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" was one of the nicest stories she had ever heard. She liked how the princesses were all sisters and slept in a big room together, and when Mike got to the part about the hidden trap-door that let them escape to a secret forest, she gasped with delight. She laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes and imagined walking through a forest where the trees were made from silver, and meeting a prince (who looked a lot like Mike) who would take her in a boat to an enchanted castle, and dancing in the moonlight with her sisters and their princes until their shoes fell apart and they had to go home. El yawned and curled up on the couch, starting to doze off around the middle of the story, her head still nestled on Mike's shoulder.

Mike stayed as still as possible and listened to El breathing in and out. He looked at her face and saw her long eyelashes fluttering as she slept and felt like someone had put a spell on him. She looked so tiny and vulnerable that it made his chest ache. A second later he almost laughed. Vulnerable? The girl can throw you around like a sack of potatoes, you idiot.

Mike sighed, scratching behind his ear. This would be so much easier if she was just his best friend. Why did she have to be so pretty, and kind, and warm, and always looking at him like he was some kind of genius superhero with all the answers? It made him want to act like someone else, someone older and braver who could sweep her off her feet like she deserved. She still had so much to learn about the world and he was afraid she would never be able to understand the way he felt about her, much less reciprocate it. She had spent the first twelve years or so of her life without knowing friendship or family. The absolute last thing he wanted to do was scare her by asking more of her than she was ready to give. So they would be friends – best friends – and he would try to ignore the way his hands shook when she sat next to him and the way her smile took all the oxygen out of the room.

With a clang and a shout, Lucas and Dustin and Will barged in through the Wheeler's front door, then stopped in their tracks to stare at Mike and El curled up on the couch, El fast asleep with Mike's arm around her. Will's eyes nearly bugged out of his head and Lucas shouted, "I knew you weren't doing homework," clearly annoyed that Mike had missed out on such an awesome arcade trip just to be with a girl. Dustin just chuckled, looking at Mike and mouthing the words "She likes you too," causing Mike to shake his head and blush all the way down to his toes.

The commotion made El wake up from her nap. She sat up, surprised and embarrassed to have fallen asleep on Mike's shoulder. Still, she couldn't understand why their friends were staring at her like she had grown a second head. She looked to Mike for answers, but he suddenly stood up and moved to the other side of the room, avoiding her eyes. She felt a stab of hurt and tried to squash it.

"Hey guys," said Mike, his voice sounding louder and higher than normal. "How was the arcade?"

The boys looked at each other, as if to say is he serious? Then Lucas answered.

"Um… it was awesome. You… shoulda been there." He didn't hide his annoyance.

Will stepped in, always the first to defuse an awkward silence. "I finally beat Dustin at pinball!" He smiled, still reveling in his victory.

Dustin scoffed. "Only because I was distracted. Your days at the top of the high-score chart are numbered, Byers."

Mike laughed. "I would've creamed both of you, and you know it."

"No way!"

"I would!"

Dustin plopped down on the couch next to El, grabbing a fistful of Nilla Wafers out of his backpack and handing one to her. "What do you think, El? Who is the best at pinball: me, Will, or Mike?" He bit down on the cookie, making crumbs fly onto his sweatshirt.

"What about me?" Lucas interjected, indignant.

"Oh, come on, Lucas, you know you always lose when we play."

"Not true!" shouted Lucas, knocking Dustin's hat off, much to the other boy's dismay.

"Fine," sighed Dustin, "between me, Will, Mike, and Lucas, who do you think would win?"

She tilted her head. She had only watched them play arcade games a few times, but the bright lights and loud music had made her too disoriented to easily follow who was winning. They all seemed to be good at those games, much better than she was.

Still, she remembered her resolution, to make Mike realize that she liked him. Maybe this would help.

"I think… Mike," she said quietly. She stole a glance at him in time to see a small smile light up his face. It worked, she thought to herself happily.

"Told 'ya!" laughed Mike, poking Lucas in the arm.

"Well, what does she know!" objected Lucas, swatting away Mike's hand.

"Um, she's watched us all play, and she's totally impartial!" said Mike, defending his title as Best-Gamer-in-the-Party.

Lucas snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, impartial. And it has nothing to do with the fact that you two were snuggled up together, like, a minute ago."

The atmosphere in the room turned cold. Mike crossed his arms and looked down at the ground. "Shut up," he mumbled to the carpet. Eleven was still trying to figure out what had happened. She looked around the room. Will was shifting back and forth nervously from foot to foot. Dustin was looking at Lucas like he wanted to smack him. Lucas looked defiant but also a little guilty.

Eleven spoke up, looking at Dustin. "Snuggled?" she asked. It wasn't a word she knew.

Dustin snorted with laughter. "Oh El," he said, ruffling her short hair, "what would we do without you?" He made his eyes get big and tilted his head, and whispered "Snuggled?" in an exaggerated high voice.

"Don't make fun of her," Mike snapped, his voice tense, but she knew Dustin was just teasing her, a concept she had recently learned was an important part of being friends. She could tell because of the eye-crinkling smile that had broken out on Dustin's face. She decided to play along. "Snuggled?" she shrieked, giggling. "Snuggled?"

Suddenly Will joined in, calling out "Snuggled?" and his voice cracked so much they all started dying of laughter. Dustin attacked Eleven with a bear hug and started tickling her, calling out "Snuggle attack! Snuggle attack!" and then Will and Lucas and even Mike all joined them on the couch, laughing and play fighting and shouting "snuggle snuggle snuggle" until none of them could even breathe.

At five o' clock Jonathan called to tell Will and Eleven that it was time to come home for dinner, and even though Will tried to argue that they could stay and eat at the Wheeler's, Jonathan mentioned the words "homemade Sloppy Joes" and Will decided eating at home sounded like a good idea after all. He was glad that El was there to bike home with him – he would never have admitted it to his friends, but having a monster-killing psychic riding beside him made the trip home a lot less scary than it otherwise would have been. He still avoided that shortcut through Mirkwood, though.

Eleven put on her new pink coat and her matching wool hat and followed Will out the door, excited to learn what a "sloppy Joe" was, and already feeling hungry. They were almost to the end of the driveway when Eleven heard Mike calling after her. "El! Wait!"

Will stopped the bike. "Go ahead," he told her, smiling. "I'll be here."

Eleven raced back to Mike's front door, where he stood clutching the picture book with the bright pink cover. "You forgot this," he said, holding it out to her. She took it from him, blushing when their fingers brushed.

"Thanks, Mike," she said quietly, willing him to look her in the eyes. When he finally did, she almost wished he hadn't. For some reason her heart was pounding again. "Maybe, we can read more of it… tomorrow…" she suggested shyly.

He smiled broadly, obviously pleased. "Yeah, okay! You can come back tomorrow at 4:30, and I'll read you another story."

Her heart soared and she nodded. Holding the book tightly in her arms, she ran down the driveway to where Will waited for her, already feeling like she was racing through the air before she had even started to pedal her bike forward.