Seven days later…
A lot can happen in seven days.
For some it went by like a flash and for others… well seven days seemed like eternity.
For Carla seven days seemed to have gone by like a whirlwind... in fact her days almost seemed to blur into one.
It was better that way... well at least Carla thought so.
She didn't want to divide the days up, she didn't want to think about them like that, those first few days were the hardest, the ones at the hospital that is.
Those moments where she sat with Ken, Simon and Tracy and when they "almost lost" Peter... where his oxygen levels had got dangerously low and where they honestly thought it was all over.
Thinking about all of that, made Carla's chest feel tight and she'd start to breathe rigidly again, just like she did when Simon had told her about the accident.
Carla couldn't explain what was happening to her but whenever she thought about that very moment when she heard about Peter's crash she started going into panic mode which is why she only let her self think about the here and now...
"Are ya sure I can't get you something?" she asked Peter, who she had forced into her bed the moment they had arrived back from Portsmouth and had not let out of it since.
She would only let him get up to use the toilet and was practically waiting on him hand a foot... not that he was complaining of course.
"No... honestly... I'm fine." Peter insisted, he watched Carla as she sat next to him on her bed with her legs crossed. "I really don't deserve any of this..." he began but Carla shook her head and put her hands over her ears.
"No no no... we are not going through this again."
Peter and her had already had words about this sort of thing. He really felt like he didn't deserve her help and support and that after everything he had done to her, she shouldn't even have come to the hospital and given him the time of day.
He was sure that once the initial aftermath of his accident had gone, that Carla would change her mind. He was sure that she'd realise that she still loved Nick and that she'd regret everything that she said but she didn't.
She stayed by his side through it all and had insisted on taking him back to hers because there wasn't really room for him at Ken's.
"Carla..." Peter said but she placed a finger on his lips to shut him up.
"No Peter... I said I don't want to hear it... I love you and when you love someone what d'ya do? You look after em... you care for em unconditionally...so shut up about it okay?"
"Okay..." Peter grinned, he could tell by the look on Carla's face that she meant business and he knew when he was beaten.
"So... are you sure I can't get you something?" Carla asked again, staring at Peter and making sure that he looked alright, the cut on his forehead had begun to heal very well but the injuries he had on the inside would obviously take a lot longer to heal.
"Well..." Peter smirked suggestively, "There is something you can give me."
"Oi Cheeky!" Carla cried, poking him gently in the stomach.
"Ow!" Peter cried over dramatically.
"You know what the doctor said... no physical activities of any sort until you've fully recovered." Carla giggled, shaking her head at Peter's naughtiness.
"Well... you can't blame a guy for trying eh?" Peter sighed, coughing as he sat up in the bed.
"No... I can't." Carla smiled as her phone, which was sitting on her bedside table, began ringing.
Carla's smile was wiped off her face in an instant. She moved up the bed and went to sit properly next to Peter.
He watched her as she let it ring as him said,
"You not gonna get that?"
"Nope."
"Why not?"
"Cause... it'll be Nick... or Chelle..." Carla said quietly as her phone eventually stopped ringing.
"And that's bad because?"
"Because they don't understand... they won't ever understand Peter." Carla sniffed, getting into the covers next to him and pulling them up over her head. Peter sighed and pulled the duvet back down as Carla cowered underneath it like a child.
"Try em... they might surprise you." Peter said, wishing that Carla would listen to him because he knew that she needed Michelle in her life... and as much as he hated it, she needed Nick too.
"No... they've been judging me for days... I know they ave."
"Oh Carla I doubt that... I mean Michelle's your best friend and Nick... from what I can gather he really really loves you... give him a chance Carla, Give em both a chance to understand."
"No!" Carla cried, tears beginning to form behind her closed eyes.
"Why not?" Peter asked, stroking her cheek tenderly.
"He won't Peter... he won't understand n neither will Chelle because no one can understand... they can't understand how I felt when I found out about your accident... It was as if I suddenly realised how much time we wasted... that's time we'll never get back Peter... never. This whole thing has made me realise how precious life is and that if I want something, I need to grab it now... before it's too late, so that's what I'm doing ere... I'm grabbing you." She smiled trying to make a joke of it but Peter could see right through it.
He could how distressed Carla was becoming again, it was a sight that he had seen at the hospital and it was a sight that he never wanted to see again, so he put an arm around Carla and held her close.
"Look... I can't force you to speak to Michelle... or Nick but I really do think that you owe Nick an explanation at some point... You broke up with him over the phone Carla and that's not right." Peter said quietly, hoping she wouldn't take what he was saying the wrong way. Carla nodded at him as she rested a head on his shoulder. She knew he was right and that ending things with Nick over the phone wasn't a fair move.
She thought about how much turmoil he was probably in, especially now she was back in the same building as him, living just below...and in a bed where he used to lay, with someone else.
"Okay..." She eventually said, "If they call me again... I'll answer it... happy now?"
"Yes..." Peter smiled smugly, kissing Carla on the head and hoping that she was telling the truth...
Nick Tilsley was one of those who felt like the last seven days had been a lifetime.
Seven days without Carla by his side.
Seven days without her laughter and her kisses was almost too much for him to bare but he didn't blame her for it.
He couldn't blame her for it.
He knew what Peter meant to her… he always had done, even if he never let himself think about it too often.
The whole time that they were together he understood that Peter would always occupy a big part of Carla's life and also… her heart.
He accepted that and had made his peace with it.
He was trudging down Coronation Street, in a suit of course because that was always how he presented himself, even when in a state of total depression and it was then that he almost walked straight into Michelle Connor.
Carla's best and most trusted friend in the world.
She gave Nick a sympathetic look and said,
"Hey..."
"Hi." Nick replied, he looked exhausted and was clearing having a hard time with his girlfriend leaving him and suddenly declaring her undying love for someone else.
"So... ave you spoken to her?" Michelle asked. She hadn't seen Carla since before she went to Portsmouth and was beginning to get worried about her because from what people were saying she had been acting slightly odd.
"Yeah... she finally answered my call earlier." Nick said with an eyebrow raised.
"Well at least that makes one of us?" Michelle said with a sigh, "She won't answer my calls... I don't know why? I think she thinks I'm going to be angry with her... which is crazy of course."
"Well... she answered mine but... now I kinda wish she hadn't" Nick sniffed, his eyes were red and bloodshot due to the crying he had just done.
"What?..." Michelle exclaimed, worried now because the look on Nick's face was heartbreaking. "Nick what did she say?"
"It doesn't matter what she said... what matters is that she's still with Peter." Nick said, frowning and not being able to understand the situation even though it had been a good few days since the Barlow's and Carla had come back to Weatherfield.
Word had got around about Carla dumping him and he couldn't stand the way people were suddenly looking at him.
He had seen her since she'd been back. She was walking into their building at the time, carrying some shopping bags but Nick couldn't quite work out if Carla had actually seen him because it genuinely looked like she was in her own world.
A world that had been over taken by Peter Barlow and a world that Nick felt like he truly wouldn't be part of again.
"She's still with Peter?" Michelle repeated with a sigh, not quite sure what she was expecting Nick to have said. "Even after you speaking to her?"
"Yes… and she really didn't like what I had to say either." Nick said, remembering the way Carla screamed at him and told him to leave her flat.
"Nick... I really don't know what to do about this." Michelle begun with a shake of her head.
"What can we do Michelle? I've tried to talk her round but she won't have any of it." Nick said because his countless efforts to make Carla talk to him had failed.
"Do ya think maybe you aven't tried hard enough?" Michelle asked, much to Nick's annoyance because her tone made him feel inadequate, it made him feel totally incapable and useless which was a feeling that he hated.
"Michelle I went round there..." Nick shrugged hopelessly, "I spoke to her face to face and she was still adamant that she wants to be with Peter."
He had turned up at her flat earlier that day and even though he had keys he hadn't dared to let himself in.
He didn't think he had the right anymore seeing as she'd dumped him.
He knocked on the door instead and when Carla opened it all he wanted to do was hug her tight but of course... he knew she wouldn't let him, she wouldn't allow him to do that because she didn't realise why he so wanted to hold her close.
They spoke for a few minutes before Nick had bit the bullet and mentioned Peter.
He asked Carla how long he was going to be staying for... and that was when she went a little crazy.
She told Nick that she was sorry for the way she had ended things. She told him that she understood that he was upset but that he had no right ask about Peter.
It was then that she asked him to leave.
"I can't force her to take me back can I?" Nick said after explaining to Michelle what had happened when he had visited Carla.
"Well no... but Nick she's clearly not thinking straight… her emotions are just all over the place because of the accident and everything that's happened." Michelle explained as if Nick hadn't of worked that out himself. "If you maybe try again tomorrow…"
"I can't…" Nick sighed because it now seemed as Michelle wasn't thinking straight either.
"But..." She began,
"No buts Michelle, this is really... really hard for me... a week ago she was my girlfriend. A week ago we were booking a holiday a week ago everything was perfect and now... Now I don't recognise the woman." Nick said. "I just think that maybe she needs to be left alone for a while, but hey... if you disagree and you want to ave a go... you're her best friend, go ahead." Michelle sighed as Nick started to walk away from her.
It was such a horrible sight to see Nick so broken.
He had never ever given up on Carla before, even when she had been drinking heavily, even when she had been gambling a lot and had been pushing everyone else in her life away but this...
This was something he couldn't handle.
This was something that even he couldn't fix.