First Kiss by Kylie Adams Page A

followed the ambivalent finger. She darted in and out of semiprivate rooms until she found Danni, sharing recovery space with a patient coughing so violently that Kiki swore the woman might hack up those weapons of mass destruction that were never found.
    "Oh, my God!" Kiki exclaimed, thunderstruck by Danni's condition. "What happened?"
    Danni stared back miserably, her right leg elevated, her left shoulder in a sling. "Occupational hazards." Her voice was late-night hoarse.
    The one-woman leper colony started up again.
    Kiki gave her a half-empathetic, half-disgusted smile before closing a flimsy curtain. Not the obliteration she longed for but better than nothing. She took a deep breath and returned her focus to Danni, wincing at the sight. Her friend's pain was palpable.
    "Don't worry. I just need some rest," Danni croaked. "The injuries are fairly minor."
    " Minor ? You look like you got hit by a bus."
    "It's just a damaged rotator cuff from hanging on the pole. My knee was swollen, too. The doctor said that was from dancing on high heels. He drained some water from it. That relieved most of the pressure. But it still hurts."
    Kiki reached out to brush a tendril of hair away from Danni's eyes. "Sweetie, you have to slow down. All of this dancing is too hard on your body. I mean, if you're not careful, you could really develop a serious injury."
    Danni managed a brief smile. "The doctor told me the exact same thing. He must be feeding you these lines."
    "I haven't even seen a doctor," Kiki said sharply. "The only medical person I've encountered is a nar-coleptic nurse."
    "Well, he's around here somewhere," Danni replied. And then, sotto voce."
    "He looks just like George Clooney. I think I'm in love."
    Kiki adjusted Danni's pillows. "So much for your fear of hospitals."
    Danni grinned, somewhat dreamily now. "Oh, Dr. Wonderful gave me a sedative to calm me down." She appeared to be fading by the second. "Your face is green. Did you know that?"
    Kiki took Danni's hand and squeezed gently. "Yes, sweetie, I know my face is green."
    "I can't stop dancing, Kiki," Danni murmured. Her eyelids fluttered. "It's like a sports injury, you know? I just have to tough it out and get back on the field. There are so many Bon Jovi songs that I haven't choreographed yet. Like 'You Give Love a Bad Name.' "
    Kiki brooked no argument. "We can talk about all of this later, sweetie. Why don't you go to sleep?"
    "Call Suzi-Su," Danni muttered, trailing off, falling in and out of consciousness.
    "I will," Kiki promised. But it suddenly dawned on her why Suzi-Suzi had been unreachable. This was the one night of the week that Chad slept over, and Suzi-Suzi unplugged the phone to give him the full, unencumbered-by-the-outside-world Stepford wife treatment. Kiki sighed. Friends. Couldn't live with them. Couldn't live without them. Couldn't institutionalize them.
    As Danni drifted into a deep sleep, Kiki stood there and began a soliloquy about Fab. She was dying to talk to someone so badly that even a zonked-out person would do in a pinch. She blathered on about his kindness in discounting the hotel suite, his surprise appearance with the Spice Market dinner, his uncanny ability to psychoanalyze and seduce at the same time.
    "Please tell me you don't mean the Fab Tomba," Danni murmured. For a split second, her eyes opened, then closed again.
    Kiki clung to the idea that Danni was still conscious enough to finish this train of thought. In fact, right now that hope and that hope alone was setting the rhythm of Kiki's heartbeat.
    "He used to date Tiffany Lynn a dancer at the club," Danni whispered before slipping back into oblivion. Only this time she stayed there.
    Kiki yearned to counteract the sedative. Maybe Ritalin? Or shock treatment? She wanted chapter and verse on everything Danni knew about Fab. But the idea of getting it tonight was officially a dead issue. "Why does everything happen to me?" Kiki wailed. And then a crazy idea burned up her brain