How good was Corrie Live tonight? I asked on my twitter (Check me out eh?) and some of you wanted this tonight so here it is.
I hope it doesn't disappoint.
"Y'know this is a non smoking building right?" Carla said, walking out of her office and over to Peter, who was sat at the top of the stairs that were on the factory floor.
"I know…" Peter replied calmly, his knees were bent and he was halfway though a smoke whilst Carla went over to the kitchen, picked up a cup and then made her way up the stairs to join him.
To say that they had just had fantastic sex would have been an understatement.
Between the fact that they had waited a week for this and the fact that there was the exciting element of maybe being caught, Carla and Peter had a mind blowing time.
Time that of course, was spent with a few,
We're not doing this again's being said and the odd this is just sex and nothing more, coming out of their mouths as well.
Neither one of them meant it of course but saying it out loud seemed like the right thing to do.
For Carla and Peter for that matter.
Shortly after they had finished, after Peter had grinned confidently at an equally satisfied Carla and after he had pulled his jeans and boxers up, Her phone began to ring.
Much to Peter's annoyance Carla hopped straight off her desk and answered it.
She answered it and made small talk whilst Peter reluctantly got dressed.
After a while he went into his black jacket and pulled out a box of cigarettes, he then went and left Carla to her phone call, only to be joined by her minutes later.
"So… how's Nicky doing?" Peter asked complacently, as Carla stopped in front of him. It was clear to her that he was feeling immensely smug about everything.
"Like you care." She said licking her lips absent-mindedly and folding her arms.
"Oh but I do care…" Peter said but he was still grinning smugly. "So go on then, tell me… Has he?"
"Has he what?" Carla asked slightly baffled until Peter's note came to mind.
"Made you feel as good as I do?"
Carla paused for a moment, hating the fact that she found Peter's cocky attitude so attractive.
"Well…?" Peter asked leaning back a little and exhaling smoke from his lips.
"If I said yes would you believe me?" Carla asked, fully knowing that Peter's ego wouldn't allow her to lie to him.
"Probably not."
"I thought as much." Carla said as she reached forward and took the cigarette from between his fingers.
Peter watched in awe as she expertly took in a drag, he didn't quite know what she was doing smoking again but it enchanted him all the same. He watched her for a moment and she knew that she had him totally bewitched, her green eyes bored into his brown ones as she inhaled.
"Since when did you start smoking again?" He asked as Carla leant against the stair banister, still with his cigarette in hand.
"Since I started shagging you again it seems." Carla said blowing smoke out of her lips before flicking the ash into the cup and then handing Peter back his cigarette.
For a second or two there was a silence.
It was silence that they both spent simultaneously reminiscing about the first time they had spoken properly.
It was many, many years ago now.
They'd seen each other around the street of course but had never really made an effort to talk to each other properly, not until that night anyway.
It was in the smoking area of The Rover's and Carla had gone out there to get reception on her phone.
They didn't talk at first, Carla was trying to get hold of a friend and Peter was sat having a smoke and a break from one of his Dad's historic antidotes.
He hadn't been back in Weatherfield for long but he already had a rep for being a bit of a player, a bad boy, a diamond in the rough and even though Carla had yet to properly speak to this man she had a little idea of what he was about...
Carla slammed her phone shut in the frustration of not getting through to her friend and turned around to see Peter, who had been watching her, amused.
"Something funny?" She asked, her tone of voice immediately confirmed what he already knew about her, that she was sassy, feisty and not one to be messed with.
"No…" Peter said, but he held up his box of cigarettes and then said, "You just look as if you could do with one of these that's all."
"Nah you're alright…" Carla said but she smirked at Peter as she said it, she thought about how cool she had thought smoking was as a teen and had only really started, to impress the boys at school, one boy in particular but that's another story all together.
"You sure?" Peter asked, slightly taken by the way her lips had curved upwards when she spoke to him.
"Oh yes, I gave up those things a very long time ago." Carla had said with a very self-assured nod.
"Good on you… smoking's a very bad habit anyway." Peter said as he continued to puff away on his cigarette.
"You seem to ave a lot of bad habits from what I hear?" Carla said still smirking at Peter as he sat just a few feet away from her.
"You shouldn't pay attention to idle gossip... Carla is it?" Peter said, although he knew full well that she was called Carla, he then took a deep drag of his cigarette before he smirked cheekily and said, "You should take the time to get to know me… I'm not all that bad."
"Hmmm maybe I will one day." Carla grinned and with that she walked back inside the pub.
Neither one of them knew it at the time of course but this first meeting of theirs was a sign of things to come.
It was sign of a witty, fun filled friendship, which very quickly became something more.
Something beautiful and something so incredibly flawed that when it was all over, they both knew that they would never truly be able to get over it.
Something that meant after almost a year and a half after them breaking up, that they were now sat together, not in a relationship yet totally and completely fixated on one another.
"Don't start smoking again… It's bad for you." Peter said shaking his head but not taking his own advice and putting his fag back between his lips anyway.
"Well so are you and yet..." Carla said she looked down at her open shirt and began doing up the buttons as Peter continued to smoke in front of her.
When she was done she watched him for a moment, she watched as he inhaled and then exhaled, he captivated her this time and he knew it. He took in another drag before holding his cigarette out for Carla and saying,
"Y'know what they say… sometimes you gotta pick your own poison." Carla took it off him and raised an eyebrow.
"You're just full of one liners tonight aren't you?" She said before taking another pull of the cigarette, she looked down at it and then up at Peter with an intense stare.
"What?" He asked because he could tell by Carla's gaze that her mind was going a mile a minute.
"Why did you come back ere Peter?" She asked, releasing smoke from her mouth as she spoke.
"I told you why." Peter said stiffly as Carla handed him his cigarette back.
"No… I mean the first time. Why did you come back? You said in that note you left that you hadn't planned on spending the night with me so what where your plans?" Carla asked, Peter shuffled uncomfortably on the step for a moment and then got up.
"It doesn't matter." He said, finishing his fag and then walking down the stairs. "I better go."
Carla felt her heart skip a beat at the thought of Peter doing another runner. She wasn't done with him yet.
The man owed her an explanation and she was going to get one.
She got up too and followed him down the stairs and back on to the factory floor. He felt her presence behind him and to make sure that he kept her at arms length he then said,
"Look Carla… this ain't the right time."
"The right time for what Peter?" Carla asked, her head on one side, confused as to what he was getting at.
"For me n you… I mean other than sex, we're no good for each other."
"What?" she exclaimed and then shook her head at him. "Do you seriously think I'm standing ere thinking about getting back together with you? Because if you do then…"
"I'm not thinking that at all, I'm just telling you how I feel." Peter said, watching Carla who let out a quiet laugh and then said a very plain,
"Good… Because I'm not leaving Nick for you."
"Good." Peter replied, as straight forwardly as she had done, although nothing about this situation was straightforward.
Carla wanted answers and she wanted them now, he knew she would eventually, he knew it was a risky game coming to the factory and taking her at a place and time where he wouldn't be able to make a quick getaway.
"Peter… last week you said that you were way to messed up to get back together with me…"
"I did." He nodded,
"Well what does that even mean?" Carla asked but it was too late.
Peter had already put up his walls, the same ones that he kept putting up last week, the ones he kept putting up every time they had almost started talking about their personal lives again.
"Where are you living right now? Are you still working for that boat company?" Carla asked, although she was unable to believe her current predicament. She was the one with the boyfriend, the one in the steady relationship and the one with the good life and yet here she was, asking loads of questions and acting like she was some clingy girlfriend.
She tried not to look at him in this way, with her head on one side and her eyes full of longing but she just couldn't understand his behaviour.
It was like he couldn't bear to speak to her properly for longer than a few minutes, it was like getting too close to her emotionally was just too much pressure for him to handle.
"Don't worry about it." Peter said firmly.
"Don't worry about it?" Carla repeated, wondering why he was so reluctant to tell her anything solid about his life right now.
"Look Carla this is why I left the first time around… to avoid this kind of awkward conversation." Peter said going into her office to get his jacket.
Carla sighed as he walked away from her and was about to follow him in there, when the door to underworld opened and Nick appeared.
Carla was sure that she felt her heart actually stop.
Seeing Nick walk into the building made everything seem real again, she felt a horrible wave of guilt and was totally unable to believe how she had just spent the past hour.
She felt like complete and utter dirt as Nick got closer to her.
"What have I told you about working late?" He kissed her and held her close to him, so happy to have just a few minutes with her after a crazy night in his restaurant.
Carla kissed him back because what other choice did she have? and when Nick pulled away from her, she didn't dare to glance over to the office, she was scared what she might see, what Nick might see if she drew any attention over to it.
All it would take is one look at her dishevelled desk, the smashed wine glass on the floor and the fact that her black knickers were next to it, for Nick to realise that something unsightly had gone on in there.
"Sorry." She said her heart suddenly pounding she was so scared. She wondered where the hell Peter was, she had hoped he was hiding somewhere but as his behaviour seemed so reckless lately, she couldn't be too sure.
She half expected him to jump out at her and Nick, for him to say "Surprise." with the same smug smile that he had been armed with earlier but there really was no sight of him from what she could see, no shadow of him lurking in the corner no head poking out from behind the desk.
"Have you been smoking?" She then heard Nick ask.
He had tasted it on her after swallowing properly, realising that it was tobacco that he could smell in the building when he first walked in and he could also smell it on Carla's clothes too.
"Errr yeah." She said, glad smoke was the odd smell that Nick could smell on her, rather than the smell of sweat mixed with Peter's aftershave. "I erm… kind of started smoking again." She said biting her lip in a guilty fashion, as Nick watched her closely.
"Again?" Nick said baffled. He hadn't actually known that Carla used to be a smoker and after she told him about smoking as a teen, he came out with a very disappointing, "Really? Carla smoking is so bad for you."
"Yeah… so I've heard." Carla said but she was distant with it.
She wanted to get Nick out of that factory and fast. She took a quick glance over to her office, which still looked empty and then took a deep breath when she saw that Peter was obviously hiding.
Nick watched her distracted gaze and then asked,
"You okay?"
"Yeah… I'm fine." Carla said, "I'm just surprised to see you, I thought you said you'd be held up at the bistro tonight."
"Yeah I am… I just popped out on a break and saw the lights on." Nick said with an unsuspecting smile.
"Ahh I see…" Carla said with a nervous smile plastered on her face to try and match his genuine one, as he moved towards her again and kissed her on the head. "I'm supposed to be filing stuff but you know me… I love a bit of procrastination."
Nick nodded and kissed Carla again but on the lips this time.
Peter was crouched, on the floor of her office and honestly? It made him feel absolutely worthless.
He hadn't minded being the other man at first, in fact he rather relished it but now that he actually saw Nick and Carla... together, in the flesh, he loathed it.
Sharing Carla was not something he enjoyed, not one little bit.
He happened to take a peek out of the office window to see Nick and Carla kiss romantically, like they had no care in the world.
Anger bubbled up inside of Peter and it took all of his strength not to jump out and tell Nick everything.
Peter had pretending as if the whole Nick Tilsey thing hadn't bothered him, he had been acting like Nick was any other man but in reality he was livid.
How on earth could could Carla have fallen for such a man?
Someone who he'd had so much history with, someone who he'd had many fights with, someone who he had thrown many punches towards and who had been on the receiving end of a few himself.
He didn't get up and say anything, he didn't want to ruin things... and the reason why he didn't, made Peter feel even more hopeless.
He watched as Nick and Carla's torturous kiss had come to an end and as Nick said,
"I ave to head back but hey, if you want procrastination, come n see me in a bit yeah?" He grinned before giving Carla another kiss and going towards the door. "And no more smoking." he called before going out and leaving Carla "alone." in the building.
She took a huge breath and felt the tears prick her eyes as she realised that she couldn't do this to Nick again and she almost was about to call after him, when she heard a noise come from her office.
"He's a right smarmy git." Peter said, walking out of her office, with his black jacket on looking like he was ready to leave.
"Don't start." Carla said, hating her self for being taken over so easily by Peter... again.
"What? Are you all of a sudden feeling guilty?" Peter half mocked, with a sigh, watching as Carla rubbed her head with her hands and then went and sat back on the stairs.
"Yes, yes I am as a matter of fact." She said, suddenly as if she just realised what she had done. "Wow… I really am something." She said, "I mean cheating on him once was bad enough but twice?"
"Technically this is the fourth time…" Peter began with a smirk but even he could see that Carla was not messing around here.
"Peter it shouldn't even have happened once." She said shaking her head, racked with guilt.
"Well it's done now… no point in dwelling on it too much is there?" Peter said casually but deep down he knew that it wasn't as easy as all that. Carla stared at him in disbelief and then shook her head
"D'ya know what Peter… just go will ya." She sighed, bending forward and putting her head in her hands. "You got what you wanted didn't you? What are you still doing ere?"
There was another silence but this one was full of hesitation. Neither one of them were sure what to do next.
It was mighty easy to see why Peter had made a quick exit the last time around.
Eventually he nodded at her and went to leave the factory like she had asked but before he got to the doors he stopped and turned back.
She sniffed hard and wiped her eyes but she was trying hard not to make it obvious that she was crying.
Even after everything they had said to each other, even though they said this was going to be about sex, Peter still couldn't leave her alone.
"Carla…" He said walking back over to her and getting down on his knees, so that he could look at her in the eye. She looked up suddenly and was surprised to see that Peter had come back to her. "Please don't blame yourself for this."
"Well who else should I blame?" Carla said miserably, she now felt just like she had done the first time Peter had left her.
Guilty and totally ashamed of herself.
"Me." Peter said, "I shouldn't of come back ere… It's my fault."
"It takes two to tango Peter." She said,
"Oi... I'm the one with the one liners thank you." Peter said in an attempt to cheer Carla up.
It surprised him because he had been spending the past week telling himself that he only wanted Carla for her body... not for her beautiful mind or her kind heart.
Even so, his remark didn't cheer her up, she shook her head in disbelief and said,
"Oh… I guess I just have to accept the fact that I'm a bad person that's all."
"Carla… You are not a bad person… You're just…"
"A cheating scumbag?" She said but she had half a smirk on her face now and even though she had insisted that Peter stayed someone who she just had illicit sex with, she desperately hoped that he got the "scumbag" reference.
It was another one of their conversations...
She hoped that he remembered that conversation they'd had many years ago and that he cherished it as much as she had done.
"No no no no, no guilt trips… that is self indulgent and pointless... You are a cheating scumbag and I am a heartless home wrecker... okay?"
Peter didn't even have to think about what Carla had just said, he chuckled silently to himself and then said,
"So… Does that make me a heartless home wrecker then?"
"It sure does." Carla said, chuckling back tearfully and thanking god that she didn't have to explain herself. She looked down at her hands then back up at Peter who was becoming less and less cocky by the second and looking more like the old Peter again.
The one she fell in love with but also the one who broke her heart.
The one who she secretly missed every single day or her life.
She didn't want to be a cheater, she didn't want to hurt Nick but she also didn't want to let Peter walk away from her.
He might have acted like he emotionally didn't care about her but it was completely obvious that he did.
The fact that he turned back and came to comfort her told Carla everything she needed to know about Peter Barlow.
"You really feel bad about this don't you." He said, watching Carla as she sat in front of him.
Watching Carla feel bad for cheated on Nick, made him feel bad for making her cheat on Nick.
In fact he almost felt sorry for Nick because Carla was a hell of a lot to loose, not that he had any doubts about her staying with Nick of course.
"Its weird…" Carla began quietly, "because the whole time I was with you earlier… I didn't feel any of this. No guilt, no shame… I felt nothing but you Peter. It's like I forgot all about Nick... It's like I don't know what comes over me." She edged closer to Peter and used both hands to take his jacket of his shoulders. "It's like VooDoo or summat." She let his jacket drop to the ground behind him and then said, "Help me forget Peter… Help me forget… Just one more time."
Their lips met in a passionate yet very slow kiss.
One that had Carla's legs wrap around Peter's body in a heartbeat and had him turn around so that it was him who was now sat on the stairs, with her on his lap.
It could have been a rather dangerous position for them to both be in but Carla found that she still trusted Peter with her life and as he ran a hand down her back and clawed at her shirt, she knew that she had a new bad habit in her life.
Like a lighter to her cigarette... Peter wasn't going to be easy to give up... at all.