Chapter Two

It was almost six thirty in the evening and Carla was still getting ready for her date tonight with Nick. If she was being honest, she hadn't stopped thinking about what she would say when she inevitably bumped into Peter. Weatherfield wasn't large by any stretch of the imagination, and he was currently only living across the road. She also had no idea if Nick knew that Peter was back. She assumed he did purely on the basis that Leanne would've said something probably in an attempt to make him jealous. Just as she did the final touch-ups to her makeup there was a knocking at the door. "It's only me." Nick called from the other side of the door.

"Yeah, I'll be there now." Carla said as she hurried, putting on her heels. She walked over to the door and let Nick inside.

"You look… Gorgeous." He said as his breath was quite literally taken away by how amazing Carla looked in her long-sleeved red dress which came to just above her knee. Carla smiled at his compliment.

"You don't look all that bad yourself." She said as she placed a loving kiss on his lips. She pulled back and realised that they had better get going if they didn't want to miss their reservations. "Come on then, we don't want to be late." She said as she grabbed his hand and black leather jacket which had been placed on the sofa ready for when she left.

"We could just skip the food and-"Nick started as he really just wanted Carla all to himself. Carla however had practically dragged him out of her flat and down the stairs.

"Ah no, I don't think so. I'm absolutely starving." She smirked as they left the building.

It didn't take long to get into town and the restaurant and soon enough they'd been sat down at their table. They made the usual small talk about how their day was and which employee annoyed them the most with Sally being the brunt of Carla's jokes. Carla really wasn't sure whether she should say something about Peter being back and considering Nick hadn't mentioned anything she assumed he didn't know. However, he did know. Peter hadn't told anyone except his dad that he was coming back so when Leanne found out she'd marched straight over there as he could've warned her for Simon's sake. Nick also knew that Carla knew because even though Carla claimed to be starving, she hadn't stopped pushing her food around the plate and not actually eating it. "Are you alright?" Nick as Carla and as she looked up at him, he knew she was clearly overthinking.

"Yeah, I'm fine… I just don't think I was as hungry as I thought." She said with a not so convincing smile but took a big gulp of wine before returning to push her food around the plate.

"Is it because of Peter?" Nick dared to ask. Carla quickly looked up at him and sighed.

"You know he's back then?" Carla huffed as she put her fork down. Nick nodded.

"Yeah… Leanne." He said briefly. Carla bit her lip. "Are you okay about it?" Nick asked. Carla just shrugged in response.

"I will be, I think it'll just bring back some really horrible memories." Carla mused. Nick nodded to show that he understood. "But we've got something great and there's no way I'm letting the likes of Peter Barlow get in the way of that… Because you know I'm sure he'll have a lot to say on the fact that you're my exes, ex's, ex." Carla said trying to make light of the situation but a horrible feeling in her stomach began to grow.

"Who cares what he has to say? He threw away the perfect woman and he has deal with the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life." Nick said as he hated talking about Peter, mainly because he'd always had some sort of rivalry with the man. Carla nodded in agreement. However, she knew the type of person Peter was and she was sure he would cause some type of fallout.

After they'd got the Peter conversation out of the way, Carla made sure that she enjoyed the night. They both had a dessert and Carla had another glass of wine before they made their way back to Carla's flat. It was getting late so Carla and Nick made their way to bed. Carla ended up tossing and turning for the majority of the night. She was completely and utterly dreading seeing Peter. It was going to happen sooner rather than later but what also played on her mind more than she would've liked is why did she even care what Peter thought of her new relationship? If she didn't know the answer to that question, then nobody would.

It was the following day which made it Saturday, Carla didn't have work today, but Nick needed to pop into the Bistro later for a few hours. Carla had arranged to meet Michelle in the Rover's later. Carla and Nick had a lazy morning but before long Nick needed to go to the Bistro. Once Nick had left, Carla hopped into the shower to freshen up before meeting Michelle. They hadn't actually planned anything, but they were more than likely just going to have a quiet drink in the pub which they did most Saturdays. Carla had considered cancelling in the chance that either Peter would be there when she got there, or he'd walk through the door at any given moment, but she just wanted to do things as normal. Why should she have to hide from him? If anything, he should be the one avoiding her after everything that happened last year.

Once Carla had showered, she put on a pair of skinny black jeans and a white blouse. She put on her everyday black, heeled boots and leather jacket. She'd also quickly ran her hair straightener through her hair too. Before she left, she sent Michelle a quick text to tell her she was on her way.

As she walked down the street, she was aware that Peter could be anywhere but as she turned the corner onto Coronation Street, there wasn't anyone about. Then she thought that he could literally be sitting in the Rover's right now. Before opening the door, Carla took a deep breath and mentally prepared herself. Opening the door, she quickly scanned the room to see that Peter wasn't there. She then approached the bar which Steve was standing behind. "Michelle's out the back if you want to go through." Steve said as he moved out of the way to let Carla past.

Carla walked through to see that Michelle was clearly in the middle of planning a wedding. She looked rather stressed about it too. "Everything alright?" Carla asked as she sat down in the chair opposite Michelle. Michelle sighed.

"Yeah, I'm just dealing with a bride from hell… I'd even go as far as saying she's worse than Tracy." Michelle said with a slight chuckle.

"Well, she must be bad if she's worse than Tracy." Carla added. "So, what's she done?" Carla asked wanting to know the details.

"What hasn't she done?" Michelle questioned. "It started off with a change of venue, which meant that I had to run around and tell the caterer, photographer, and everyone else involved about the change of plan… Then she decided that she didn't want any seafood served which meant the whole menu had to be changed and I had the caterers down my throat about that, then she decided instead of a pale pink theme she wanted baby blue so now I'm trying to find baby blue coloured everything." Michelle said as she huffed.

"It's not too early for a wine, then?" Carla asked knowing that Michelle definitely needed a drink.

"Absolutely not." Michelle said as she got up and went into the kitchen. She returned a few moments later with a bottle of red wine and two glasses. "So, you haven't seen Peter yet?" Michelle asked knowing that Carla would've said something straight away if she had. Carla shook her head.

"No, but I'm dreading the moment I do… How awkward is it going to be?" She sighed as Michelle poured the wine into the two glasses.

"Bumping into an ex is probably one of the most awkward experiences." Michelle said nodding as she took a large gulp of wine. Carla bit her lip. "Because despite what happens when a relationship ends or in your case, a marriage… That person was a huge part of your life, then when you split it can get excruciatingly awkward." Michelle added.

"I think I'm more worried what he's going to say about me being with Nick of all people, they've never exactly been best buddies… If anything, they're the complete opposite of one another." Carla mused as she took a sip of wine.

"They can't be that different if they go for the same women." Michelle added which earned a tut from Carla. Michelle could see that Carla was clearly stressing. "Look, Carla… I know that it's easier said than done but just try not to think about it… You and Nick are happy together and if anything, Peter has no right making any comments after what he did." Michelle said in her best attempt to support Carla. Carla gave a small smile as she was just appreciative that she had a friend like Michelle.

Carla and Michelle ended up making their way into the bar for a drink. It was rather busy considering it was a Saturday and it was the evening, but Peter wasn't there, neither of the Barlow's where there actually, which Carla was relieved at. The two women had a couple more drinks but unlike Carla she wasn't in the mood to get drunk. If anything, she just wanted to go home. Michelle could see that Carla wasn't really feeling being in the pub. "Why don't you go home, see Nick and have an early night?" Michelle suggested and Carla smiled in response because it was as though Michelle had the ability to read her mind.

"I think I will." Carla said as she took the last sip of her drink. "I'll probably see you tomorrow." Carla said as she got up and put on her jacket. Michelle gave her a kiss on the cheek goodbye before she decided that she should probably help Steve and Liz behind the bar.

Michelle watched as Carla left the pub. All she wanted was for Carla to be happy. She'd been through so much and it was just as though Carla was becoming settled, her cage was about to be rattled again.

As Carla left the pub and closed the door behind her, she took in a deep breath of air. As the sun was going down, it had started to get a little chilly which made her shiver slightly as a leather jacket wasn't exactly warm. Carla was in a world of her own and as she took a step down from the Rover's onto the pavement she was met with a thud. She'd realised that she'd actually walked straight into someone but because her mind was elsewhere, she hadn't been concentrating. "Oh sorry." Carla said but as she looked up it was no other than Peter Barlow. "Peter." Carla managed to say. Out of all the people she could've walked into it had to be him.

"Carla." He said in response, he too was a little stunned to see her.