Disclaimer:

I don't own the Clique. If I did, it would still be a Massington

Lips of an Angel

Summary: It felt so good to hear her saying his name, not in disgust or hate, but in astonishment. It struck something inside of him and, not for the first time, he started to wonder what could have been.

Chapter One

The Unexpected Phone Call

It's so good to hear your voice sayin my name,

It sounds so sweet,

Coming from the lips of an angel,

Hearing those words it makes me weak,

It was early Autumn, almost time to put the warmth of summer in the past and embrace the cold, chilly months ahead, an action Derrick Harrington detested and was dreading more and more every day. Every changing leaf crunching under his Timberlands was just another reminder of how close it was to what he referred to as 'the Dark Months'. The 'Dark Months' mean no more sun-basked memories, no more romantic beach moments with his girlfriend, his hair dulling from the lack of sun into more of a brownish color instead of a tarnished gold and, worst of all, the soccer finals coming soon and ending in the blink of the eye.

Which would mean that for the rest of the year, all the way up into graduation day, he had nothing to distract him from school work after October 21st, the precise day of the soccer finals. If the Tomahawks got that far.

Stuffing his hands in his jeans, he kicked at the patch of dirt in front of him in agitation.

"If you do that again, my mom's gonna freak," a voice called and he turned to see Dylan, his girlfriend since last April, leaning against the iron gate in front of her house, smirking slightly.

"Hey, you," Derrick said, walking over to her and kissing her. "You do enjoy teasing me, don't you?"

She laughed, looking up at him, "You make it oh so easy."

"Really?" This surprised him. He knew she was joking, but he just wondered if she actually thought that.

"Yeah. I mean, I can read you like a book. I know exactly what you're gonna do if I say something. It's like I'm psychic or something," she replied, her eyes twinkling. Absent-mindedly, she pulled at a curl of his hair.

"Really?" he mumbled, his eyes looking into hers and moving his lips against her neck. "What am I gonna do now?" he breathed.

Dylan laughed shakily. "I don't know, but I'm gonna go watch the movie. If you want you can come." She maneuvered around him easily and started walking across the absurdly big private yard to the gleaming stone steps.

After pausing a few moments, Derrick followed her, the wind tousling his hair when he looked back at the iron gate where he had cornered her, then up to the steps, where the door was now ajar and he could see Dylan walking into the livning room, his face tightening up in confusion.

"Honey, that's fantastic, but it doesn't answer my question," Dylan sighed into her iPhone, barely covering her annoyance. Derrick stared at the TV, pretending to be interested in whatever chick flick Dylan chose. The two of them were lounged across a comfortable sofa, a tub of popcorn on the ground and two cokes opened on the table.

It had been going pretty good, besides the entire thing with her pulling away at the gate, until Claire called and wouldn't stop, even though Dylan texted her that she was with Derrick. Even a guy gets that that means to leave them the hell alone.

"No, no, I think it's great that….Claire. I was just saying I thought it was great that you and Mass went shopping, but I just need to know if I need to pick you up Friday for K's poetry reading." There was a pause and Dylan rolled her eyes, looking apologetically at Derrick. Then she turned her attention back to the phone and made an impatient noise. "Yes, it's the new café. Really nice place…what? Claire, I don't really give a crap who is gonna be there, it's about supporting a friend, not going on a social outing. Jesus."

She dropped her phone with a satisfying clunk on the mahogany table before taking a sip of her coke. "Sorry, Claire just doesn't know how to shut up sometimes." Dylan snuggled closer to Derrick. Within minutes, her green eyes closed and she was asleep. Derrick sighed. Her mom had pushed Dylan to do the IB Diploma and it seemed to exhaust Dylan, even in the third week of school.

Sighing, he finished out the movie in silence.

Dylan was still sleeping when it was over and Derrick felt quite awkward. He didn't want to leave without saying goodbye and it felt so stalkerish to just watch her sleep. So he did the obvious thing: started playing BlackOps.

He'd left it at Dylan's when Sammi went freaking psycho and tried to throw away all the 'brutal, blood-thirsty evil video games.' He shook his head. Girls.

Somewhere in between blowing up things, Dylan's phone started ringing. "Damn it," Derrick said, promptly dropping his control stick and jumping up from where he was sitting cross-legged on he carpet. He loved Dylan to death, but when she woke up before she was ready, she scared the bejesus out of him. Talk about a temper. He grabbed the phone, fumbling with the buttons. He accidentally pressed the green thing which accepted the call.

Oh well. He knew most of her friends pretty well. Actually, there was a time when he knew a few of them really well. He'd just say Dylan was sleeping.

Putting the phone to his ear, he sat back down, trying to gun down someone hiding behind a building. But what he heard on the other end was so surprising, it made him drop the controller.

Crying.

Not like full-out sobbing, but that little sniffling thing people did when they tried to convince everyone they had allergies. What the hell? Before he could say something, the person on the other end start talking.

"Oh God, Dyl, I needed to talk to you so bad, I just need someone to talk to." There was a drawn out pause. "Dylan?"

Derrick cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um. No. She's um, sleeping."

"Derrick?" It felt so good to hear her saying his name, not in disgust or hate, but in astonishment. It struck something inside of him and, not for the first time, he started to wondered about what could have been. It knocked the breath out of him to think of where he might be right now, if only he didn't give up so easily. Funny how easily one word can make your whole world collapse.

"Um, yeah," he said, kicking the controller aside as he crossed his legs. "Hi, Mass."

Out of nowhere, a sniper got him by surprise, hitting him in the only place he wasn't protected well, the place he thought no one would ever find.

The TV was muted, but he still jumped a bit when someone threw a grenade and the whole damn place exploded.

Sooo? What did you think? There was a kinda gushy Dylington part, eughh. I love all pairings, but I love Massington so much, all other -ingtons suck in comparison.

Reviews, please? That would make me happy.

Thanksss

Just fyi- the song is Lips of an Angel by Hinder. It's great. You should check it out. The entire story's kinda based on it, but I might use some other song lyrics, idk yet.