Summary: It's almost Ricky and Bianca's wedding day. Carly Jackson arrives back in the square with brother, Billie, just in time for the wedding. But, with Carol's controlling hold over Carly's life, will she get what she wants? And that is to stay in Walford with her family, and maybe someone else.
Disclaimer: I do not own Eastenders or anything else that is Publicly known in this fic. The only thing I own is Carly and any other original characters.
This is kinda boring. The only AU bit I added was at the very end, so if you get bored just skip to there and you should be fine.
Chapter Seven
Carly came bouncing down the stairs in her blue tartan pajama shorts and blue vest top. Seeing as it was February though, and it was chilly, she had paired it off with a pair of snugly slipper-boots and a grey hoodie. Finishing off the braid she putting in her hair, Carly walked into the living room, where Bianca was still setting up for her hen night.
"It ain't face packs that make you go blind, Rick," Billie said, as Carly scooted her way behind him.
"Whats going on?" Carly asked, looking over and seeing that the kids had plastered been working their beautician ways on Ricky. "Loving the new look, Ricky. Suits you."
"I can do massage and all," Tiffany spoke up. Carly was astonished over the past couple of days, at how alike Tiffany was to her mother. "You can borrow my dance mat, if you like?"
"You'll like it at Carrie's house," Bianca told her. The kids were staying at their mates for the night, but Tiffany was insistent on staying with the party.
"Oh, please?" Tiffany whined.
"Tiff, how about I take you, Morgan and Liam out to the cinema tomorrow evening, once I get back from school?" Carly suggested, tying off the hair bobble at the end of her long side braid. "How about that?"
"Okay."
"It's not one of those parties anyway, Tiff," Bianca began, pouring some of the vodka into the bowl of orange juice. "We're just having a few girls from around here. A bit of pampering and a glass of punch."
"Sounds like a rest day, than a hen night," Billie said. "Come on, sis. What happened to the stripper? You know, getting so blind drunk you can't even see straight."
"You up for the stag next week?" Ricky asked him.
"What?" Bianca queried.
"No, nothing," Ricky explained. "It's just gonna be a quiet one."
"I bet you ten pounds, someone will come back with no eyebrows," Carly whispered down to Whitney. The teenage girls shared a giggle.
"Pats just come out of hospital," Bianca said. "I can do classy can't I?"
"Yeah, course you can," Whitney answered, as the doorbell rang and the kids ran for the front door.
"Anyway, the weddings the party, Ricky," Bianca said, smiling at her fiancee. Right before, the sound of a horn bellowed from the hallway. Bianca and Carly looked at each other with wide eyes. Trumpets? It had to be. Bianca turned quickly into the hallway, while Carly had to make her way back over the beauty equipment that was on the floor. "I've got a bridesmaid with a trumpet. Sis."
"Hey, what about the baby?" Carly asked, appearing at the door, a huge smile on her face for the sister she hadn't seen in ages. Carol had taken Billie and Carly up the Manchester several times to visit Sonia, Martin and Rebecca.
"You're not a baby anymore, though, are you?" Sonia asked rhetorically, moving over to Carly and embracing her. "Ah, I've missed you Carls."
"Missed you too, Son," Carly said, pulling away.
"What are you doing here?" Sonia asked.
"We've got a little liar on our hands," Bianca told her, before making her way back into the living room. Sonia looked over at her younger sister in shock. And she thought Carly was the good one.
The night moved on quickly, and the hens were starting to arrive. Whitney had informed Carly of Billies actions and swore not to drink too much punch tonight. It must have been about 70% vodka and only 30% orange, one he was through with it. Escaping upstairs for a bit, Carly took off whatever make-up was left on her face. Coming back down the stairs, the hall was full of unfamiliar faces. All except one.
"Nana Pat," Carly said, excitedly bouncing down the stairs to see her grandmother. Carly hadn't had a chance to see her yet, as she had been in hospital.
"No, this isn't little Carly?" Pat asked, seeing how tall Carly had gotten since she last saw her. Of course, it had been ten-eleven years since then. Obviously, she would have grown up. Carly's own father barely saw her, so it was obvious she saw less of her grandmother. Carly wrapped her arms around the recently-discharged woman. "Last time I saw you, girl, you were six years old."
"And you still had some color left in your hair," Carly said, cheekily, eyeing up Pats snowy white barnet.
"Watch it, you," Pat, jokingly, warned the teenager. There was another knock at the door and Dot and yet two more women who Carly had never seen before walked in.
"Whats she doing here?" Bianca asked, rolling her eyes at Dot.
"B-" Sonia began, but Carly blocked it out, by walking into the living room. Taking a cup of punch, Carly took a seat on the floor, reserving the high seats for the older ladies, who may not be able to get up off the floor. She could hear Whitney greeting them in the hall as she downed the glass quickly. Her pledge not to drink too much was going out the window. She could tell it was going to be a boring night. Half the women she doesn't know and the half she does, are mostly 30+.
"All you gotta do is lay back and relax," Bianca chatted on. "It is a well known fact, that if you tense up, it just makes the whole thing a lot worse."
"Maybe it's about choosing someone who knows what they're doing," one of the beauticians spoke.
"Let's just face facts, it's highly unpleasant," A woman, who Carly thinks name is Zainab, said. Carly chuckled along side the other women. Although they were talking about waxing, it sounded hell of a lot like something else. Wink, wink, if you know what I mean.
"I recon it's all in the wrist action, girls," Sonia said, sitting down with the camcorder in her hands.
"Any woman who says she doesn't mind it is lying," Zainab spoke again.
"I remember my first time," Bianca began to explain. "Just as it started, I jumped off the bed and belted around the the room screaming."
"Sounds like the Bianca we all know," Carly said.
"Well if she didn't get me a the door," Bianca continued. "I would have been half way up the high street with half and eyebrow, and my legs still hairy."
"Are we still talking about waxing?" The half-drunk, forty-something with short bleach blonde hair, which Carly thinks was Shirley, or maybe it was Manda. Looks more like a Shirley.
"I don't really mind it," Carly spoke up, shrugging her shoulders. "To be honest, it's quite relaxing."
"What part?" Bianca asked. "Getting the hairs plucked off your face or ripped of your-"
"Who's for another drink?" Carly announced before her sister had a chance to finish that sentence. I think we all knew where that was heading. She pushed herself up off the floor and resting her glass on the mantelpiece.
"I'll have one," Shirley spoke up, and turned to the others. Zainab, who was resting beside her, obviously couldn't drink due to her being pregnant. So, she turned to the next nearest person. "Pat?"
"No, no," Janine answered for her. "She's alright. Doctors orders."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine thanks," Pat then said herself. Carly poured a glass of punch and handed it to the blonde, who had tied her bangs out of her face into a ponytail and left it sitting up like and antenna. Someone passed some snide comment about Janine, but Carly wasn't that bothered. She knew that people didn't like her. And, from what she'd heard already, she wouldn't like her either if she'd known her for a lot longer than she has. They continued their conversation about people who Carly had never heard about, as she sat back down in her place. Well, she did hear Ian being mentioned. She thinks that the blonde woman, Jane, was married to him now. That must be wife number three? four?
"Mummy used to say if God made us hairy, that's what he wanted us to look like," Heather, she thinks her name is, spoke, as she got her head massaged by another woman. Oh, that was Manda. "I spent all my fourth year at school looking like a yeti with clothes on." Unfortunate.
"You don't look like a yeti with clothes on, Hev," Shirley said, forcefully and threateningly.
"No," Heather began. "But, I stopped listening, when I came home early one day, and found Mummy with bleach on her goatee and shaving her tash." Carly laughed along with the others. She didn't know if it was the moderate amount of alcohol that had made her tipsy and giggly, or she was actually having a good time.
"Ah bless him, Ricky," Bianca continued to yap on, as Carly took another swing from her drink. "With all this effort I put in waxing and I guarantee you, on our wedding night, he's just gonna think I'm naturally-"
"Plucked?"
"Alright, your turn," Jane said, pointing from Carly to the empty seat beside her. Jane had been giving hand massages to some of the women, and Carly guessed it must have been her turn. Getting up from the floor, she took her seat beside the other blonde. She heard the woman on the other side of Jane try and make a joke about men and clouds or something. Carly had to agree with the woman's daughter, one of the beauticians, who said it wasn't funny.
"It's all an investment though," Janine said. "Maintenance."
"It's a shame yours didn't pay off then, isn't it?" Jane joked.
"Well, I think it's really healthy in a relationship," Manda began. "A bit of mystery. You know, the odd little secret. Well, we all got them, haven't we?"
"Yeah," Sonia agreed. Carly nodded along.
"What's yours then?"
"No, no, not mine," Manda said, all embarrassed. "I didn't mean- I haven't got a secret. It's just men can have them, can't then?"
"No," Everybody chorused.
"Why, what is it?" Carly asked, seeing the worried look on the woman's face.
"Well, it's just Minty," She began. "I don't know where he goes. I don't know why he goes. But Minty just...goes. But, I do trust him. I just think he's planning a little surprise for me."
"Every single week?"
"At the same time every week?"
"Day and night?"
"Here, can he look you in the eye?" Pat asked.
"Yes. No. Yes. I don't know."
"No, it's not the time, is it?" Denise began. "It's what he's wearing. He don't have a shower? Do not tell me, that the man has a shower."
"Or a stupid jacket?"
"Aftershave," Pat said. "Aftershave is the give-a-way."
"I did find a wet towel on Wednesday," Manda said, getting a giggling response from some.
"You need to look a bit harder," Carly said. "That's how I caught my fella out."
"When did you have a fella?" Bianca asked. "You're only sixteen."
"I'm seventeen in a couple of days," Carly said. "But, anyway, Son, remember when we went up to Manchester. Not last summer, but the summer before. I was telling you about my new boyfriend, Scott."
"Yeah, I think so," Sonia replied.
"Well, I had this hunch for a while," Carly began. "He wasn't the brightest boy, but he was blessed with the looks. Anyway, he was always getting these sneaky texts, and getting 'called' into work a weird hours of the day. It was when he started using hair gel every day that I was on to him."
"What did you do?" Heather asked.
"I was staying over at his one night, right?" Carly said.
"Carly Anne Jackson," Bianca said, shocked.
"Shut up," Carly brushed her off. "Anyway, it was the morning. It was one Sunday there, just before Christmas. He got a 'call' from work to come in. He works in construction, so I knew he was obviously going to see her. When he was gone, I done a bit of snooping, and what did I find?" Everyone seemed to lean in closer to hear. "A nice white shirt in the wash, with slapper red lipstick on the collar."
"No."
"I left," Carly said, "I got up and walked out. Ignored all his calls and texts. Then when he came around to the flat, well. Billie showed him a thing or two."
"Well, that's different isn't it?" Manda said.
"You need to jump on him," Zainab announced.
"Well, that's one way to keep him in check?" Sonia said, as the rest of the room giggled.
"Metaphorically speaking, of course," Zainab said, rolling her eyes. "The first sniff of another woman, you have got to let him know you are on to him."
"I'm not on to him."
"You have got to put your foot down," Denise slurred. "With a firm hand, Mand."
"Someone shouldn't be allowed anymore to drink," Carly whispered into Jane's ear rather loudly. At this stage of the night, Carly had had quite a bit to drink. It wasn't at the slurring stage or anything yet, but, you could smell the vodka off of her. So much for her pledge.
"You shouldn't be allowed anymore to drink, you mean," Jane replied, laughing. The slightly drunken women continued their conversation, as Carly felt her phone buzz in her pocket. Pulling it out, she had a text from Rosie.
To: Carly
Remember...Politics is first thing, love. Have a good night and don't get too drunk! lav ya!
"I think you're right," Carly tried to whisper back, putting her mobile into her hoodie pocket again. Most of the women were wearing nice, woolly dressing gowns. Carly didn't know to bring one, so all she had was her hoodie.
"I don't think it really matters, as long as you love each other," Heather explained. "Like proper true love. Everything else doesn't matter, does it?"
"Is she for real?" The other daughter of Denise spoke up. "Is she being serious?"
"Don't listen to her," The girls sister said.
"I think he's probably just doing an evening class," Manda said. "You know, language. Or something."
"Oh course he is," Jane said.
"Yeah," Shirley butted in. "The language of looooooove."
"No, no. She's right," Bianca said, mixing her drink with the cocktail umbrella.
"Who is?"
"I mean, look at me and Ricky," Bianca began. "I'm not saying I'm a slapper or anything. All the men, the other men, you know the romantic, like, not in your stomach romance type of thing. But, you know, at the end of the day. I'm here. I'm back here where I started, with Ricky, ain't I? Because he is my soul mate."
"She ain't had a better offer," Denise said, among other agreements from the ladies.
"It's only 'cause my dad died, innit?" Whitney asked, standing up. "B, you're always saying it. He's your one true love. He's your soul mate, ain't he?"
"Yeah. I fell in love with your dad the first time I saw him," Bianca said, going down memory lane. "He was gorgeous, weren't he, Son? I showed you the photos. Yeah, he had it all Nathan. He was handsome, clever, funny. Yep. He was the best thing that happened to me."
"What about Dan?" Carly asked.
"You still remember that?" Bianca asked without emotion, before taking a drink from her glass.
"Of course I do, I was six," Carly said. "And mums raved on about it for the past ten years, so it's been very hard to forget."
"Carly-" Sonia tried to butt in.
"Did you love him?" Carly asked. "Like love him enough to sacrifice your relationships with mum and with Ricky?"
"Yeah, I did love him," Bianca answered after a pause. "Or, well. I thought I loved him at the time. Dan was different. It was passionate, exciting, dangerous. I didn't have it with Ricky at the time. I was bored. You know I was young, married and had a baby. But, looking back on it, it was the worse decision of my life to start seeing him again. It was lust that drove me away from my mum, my husband and my family. I know not to make that mistake this time around."
They had soon moved onto applying face masks onto one another. Carly was brushing out the cream across Jane's face when the doorbell rang. Bianca went to get up to answer it, but one of the beautician who wasn't do anything volunteered. Carly took a glance to the door to see Fatboy walking through.
"Ladies, ladies," He said, rubbing his hands together. "This is it, a present from your brother, he thought you might like, because a hen without a stripper is not a hen night."
"Did you know about this?" Bianca turned over to Carly and asked. Carly just shook her head violently, chuckles escaping her throat. She wondered who Billie paid off to do it. Bonkers by Dizzee Rascal came on, and who came walking in? Leon. Carly's eyes widened as he zipped down his hoodie in front of her sister.
"Mind your blood pressure, Pat," Sonia joked, as he threw off the jacket. He lifted up his tank top to show off his abs, while looking over at a star-struck Carly, giving her a cheeky look. He pulled it off, before going over and body rolling in front of an embarrassed Bianca. But she couldn't say she didn't enjoy it. Carly looked away, as Leon began to un-buckle his trousers and Bianca got more-and-more childish. Pulling them off, he was left in nothing but his boxers and socks. He pulled Bianca up into the middle of the room and guided her hands up and down his muscly chest and abs. Leon looked over at Carly again from the corner of his eyes, who was shaking her head and biting her lip. What? A boy with muscles would drive any girl crazy. He gave her a cheeky wink before turning back to Bianca. Before everyone knew it, he was scurrying out of the room, with only his hand covering his...modesty. Fatboy grabbed the bundle of clothes from the floor and followed him out.
"It's always the same story, innit," Shirley slurred. "It doesn't last long, does it?"
"Leon, you can put your clothes on upstairs if you want?" Whitney shouted.
"You shoulda felt his abs," Bianca exclaimed.
"There was a time where he would have begged me to touch his abs," Shirley slurred again.
"Yeah, maybe forty years ago," Carly joked standing up and going to walk out of the room. All of the punch was making an exit and she needed the bog.
"Oi, watch your mouth," Bianca said, playfully smacking her bum as she walked by. Carly bounced up the stairs and did her business in the bathroom. Walking out, she stumbled a bit. Before she ended up falling flat on her face, a pair of muscly arms caught her. Looking up, Carly's blue eyes fell upon Leon's brown ones.
"You need to watch where you're going," Leon said, steadying her up. "Drink less and you won't fall and break that nose of yours."
"I-I haven't even had that much," Carly slightly slurred, leaning against the wall for support.
"No, offence, but, I can smell it off you, Carls," Leon said, smirking.
"I saw that little wink you gave me," Carly said, gently pushing him in the stomach. Bianca was right about those abs. "And, and I though you were really hot."
"You're saying that because you are mortal," Leon said, laughing slightly at the state she was in.
"No, it's true," Carly said, moving closer to him. "I think you're really hot, and I would be kissing you right now, if..."
"Why don't you?"
"My mum weren't such a crazy woman about B," Carly said. "She's gonna kill me once I get back to Balham."
"Then let her," Leon said, before moving his lips onto hers. Carly moved into the kiss and pushed her body against his. He snaked his arms around her waist and let them settle at the bottom of her back, as Carly resting her hands on his neck. Carly preceded to step backwards, towards the room where she was sleeping without breaking the kiss. It was Pat's room, but seeing as Janine was putting her up until she gets better, it was Carly's for the time being. Unfortunately, Billie was then put onto the couch. Moving her hands down behind her, Carly tried to find the doorknob. Eventually, she broke away and turned to open the door. Leon hung over her and planted kisses on the crook of her neck. Finally she got the door open and the pair burst into the bedroom, and the door closed behind them.