Carla ended up breaking up with Nick.
She simply had to end this double life that she had been living.
She had never planned for things to go this far but now that it had she couldn't go back and she couldn't bear to string Nick along anymore.
She had never wanted to end things with him and had never planned to either but her behaviour over the past few days had made her realise that she had crossed the line.
Her behaviour started to make her question everything about her self.
But before we get into how Carla ended things with Nick lets go back to the night where she had found out that Peter was on holiday, shall we?
So after the initial shock of finding out that Peter had a girlfriend called Jessica wore off (and the shock that they were obviously serious enough with each other to go on holiday together...) Carla had somehow managed to wriggle even more information out of Ken.
It was suddenly like she didn't give a hoot about the "rules" anymore.
She didn't tell Ken about her and Peter's affair of course but she also didn't hesitate before she asked him some more.
She really didn't think that Ken thought anything of it of course, she just assumed that he thought that she was making conversation.
Unfortunately for Carla, Ken was slightly on to her odd behaviour.
He observed her and she knew that she craved more information on Peter… he just didn't know why.
Anyway, Ken eventually ended up telling her where Peter went on holiday, he also ended up telling her when Peter had left and just when he was coming back.
He watched Carla closely for a reaction but by now she was almost an expert at keeping her cool.
She just flicked her hair back and nodded as if she was just glad to hear that Peter was doing so well.
By the time Carla went and sat back with Nick, she was overcome with all sorts of different emotions... which is rather insane when you think about it because she wasn't supposed to be feeling anything other than lust for Peter Barlow.
Sadly for Carla… the feelings that she was trying so hard to ignore, got stronger and stronger by the minute.
There was a feeling of anger, one that she felt in the pit of her stomach as Nick cuddled up next to her and rambled on about this nightmare customer he'd had in the Bistro that afternoon.
How could Peter have not told her about this? How could he have spent so many months keeping it from her?
Obviously he hadn't changed a single bit.
There was also a feeling of jealousy, one that was so strong it was a wonder that Carla wasn't turning green with envy as Nick spoke.
She had always despised the idea of any other woman having her hands on Peter and the thought of this Jessica touching him and kissing him made her feel physically sick.
The worst feeling of all... was betrayal.
It was the worst feeling because it was a feeling that was all too familiar.
Carla felt as if Peter was cheating on her all over again… which she also thought was crazy because they weren't even an item.
As crass as it sounds, they were just fuck buddies… weren't they?
She tried her hardest to get past it.
It shouldn't matter to her that Peter had a girlfriend should it?
She tried to think about something else but of course, the more she tried not to think about Peter, the more she did.
The fact that Peter he had the nerve to have a secret girlfriend infuriated her to no end and she tried to tell her self that from now on, she was done and dusted with him.
Then Nick suggested that they should go back to his place.
Normally Carla would have gone straight to Nick's and indulged in the pleasures of his company but this time it was different.
It was as if she simply couldn't stomach the thought of being with Nick right now.
She couldn't think of anything worse than him touching her and kissing her in all those places that Peter had done only a mere week ago.
Nick watched her with bated breath for answer and her excuse ended up being that she was feeling ill and that she just needed some space.
For the first time ever, Nick looked as if he didn't quite believe Carla and for the first time ever... she really didn't give a toss.
Nick tried not to let his disappointment in Carla be so obvious but everyone could see that something was wrong.
The once blissfully happy couple were clearly having trouble.
Michelle had been watching them both from behind the bar for a while now and when Carla was on her way out, she took her by the arm and asked her what was wrong.
She had been suspicious that something was up with Carla for weeks now and the way she had just dismissed the idea of spending more time with Nick, definitely confirmed her theory that Carla was hiding something.
Although just like Ken, Michelle didn't know what Carla was up to.
She instead asked her if everything was okay and if she wanted to talk but Carla just shrugged it off.
She said she was feeling sick and that she just wanted to go home and relax.
Well it wasn't a complete lie, she did feel sick but for all the wrong reasons.
Carla practically ran to her flat and once inside, She told herself that she was going to try her very best to not let Peter and his girlfriend affect her.
She tried not to go onto the Virgin Atlantic website later that night and she tried not to find out when Peter's flight back from Beijing was coming back.
Yes, Carla had even managed to get what airline Peter had flown with, out of Ken.
The rest of her weekend was spent trying to avoid Nick and trying desperately hard to also not think about Peter in the process.
"I meant what I said earlier… I won't stop… Even if you don't see me for days… Weeks even… I won't stop coming back for you..."
His words echoed around Carla's mind and she aimlessly pottered about her flat.
He knew.
He knew she'd probably wonder where he was, he must have done, otherwise why else would he have mentioned the fact that she might not see him for weeks?
It had been just over a seven days now and if Carla didn't know any better, she would have thought that she was having some sort of withdrawal symptoms from Peter.
Nick was used to Carla and her unusual ways by now and he was the kind of guy who understood that sometimes she just needed space, so he didn't bother her too much over the weekend, which seemed to drag on and on in Carla's mind.
Monday morning eventually came and Carla had the urge to send Peter a huge text message. One where she could rant on and on but when it came to actually writing it, it was as if the words just wouldn't be typed.
She then tried to resist the urge to drive to the airport and hang around just so she could get a glimpse of this woman that Peter had been keeping a secret for two months.
Carla was so tempted to see who this woman was, her mind was racing and the only thing that she could think of to calm down was to down a bottle of wine and get hammered.
She thought it would make her feel a little better to know what this woman looked like and to put a face to the name she had been repeating over and over in her mind for the whole weekend.
Resisting temptation was something Carla had never been good at so, sure enough at 2.35pm that very same afternoon, Carla found herself sat in a coffee shop at the airport.
She wondered what the hell her life had come to.
She hated what Peter had done, this wasn't her, this wasn't normal behaviour and Carla genuinely didn't recognise herself.
She knew that what she was doing was slightly on the obsessive side and as she made her way to the arrivals gate, she wondered if maybe she should make a run for it.
It wasn't too late.
She could still go home and pretend as if none of this ever happened.
She could pretend like she hadn't taken the day off work just to practically stalk Peter but she didn't.
She couldn't.
It was like her legs simply wouldn't carry her out of the airport, only closer and closer to that arrivals gate.
The screen showed that his flight had landed and it was then Carla felt her heart begin to pound beneath her black jumper.
She went and stood purposely behind a huge family who were obviously waiting for someone to come home and made sure she had a spot so that Peter wouldn't be able to see her but so that she could see him.
It was half an hour or so before she actually saw Peter emerge, her heart skipped a beat as he got closer and for a moment she totally forgot why she was even at the airport.
For a moment she felt as if she was a normal girlfriend who was waiting for her boyfriend to finally come home. In fact she nearly started waving like a mad woman and she almost called out his name… then she saw Jessica.
Jessica had long, thick dark red hair with pale skin and piercing blue eyes, she was average height but she was curvy in all the right places and Carla couldn't help but feel stunned as she saw this woman walk next to Peter.
Stunned, because Jessica really didn't seem like Peter's type.
Then again Jessica was probably everyone's type because in Carla's eyes, Jessica was perfect.
She looked like she was in her mid forties and was dressed in a pair of skin-tight light blue jeans and a white jumper, her lips were a bright shade of pink and her long nails matched.
Carla couldn't help but look down at her black attire and then back up at Jessica, who seemed to be full of so much colour and so much life compared to her.
The only good thing… the only positive thing that Carla found in this dire situation was that Peter and Jessica weren't walking hand in hand, In fact Peter looked as if he was on a totally different planet to his girlfriend.
He wasn't paying Jessica the slightest bit of attention and Carla prayed that it was because he was thinking about her.
She hoped that he missed her and that all he could think about was when he would be seeing her again.
Peter then stopped walking and turned to Jessica to say something, Carla didn't know what of course but then Jessica smiled at Peter and then leant in for a kiss.
Carla's eyes closed of her own accord because she simply did not want the image of Peter's lips on another woman's to be burnt into her mind forever.
She had only just recently got the image of Peter and Tina out of her head and she didn't need a new one thanks very much.
If Carla had of kept her eyes open, she would have seen that Jessica had actually only kissed Peter on the cheek and that he had barley responded to it as well.
When she opened her eyes she watched as Peter pulled his phone out of his pocket.
She couldn't help but hope that he was going to text her but as he lifted his phone up to his ear and began talking she knew that she obviously wasn't the first thing on his mind after all.
So who was he talking to? Maybe Ken, Maybe Simon or maybe someone else.
Carla's mind did some more wondering as she stood behind the family who were still waiting for their loved one to arrive.
She wondered how Peter and Jessica met.
How long they had been together and just how long Peter had thought he was going to get away with this.
She also wondered if she should maybe make her presence known. If she should just jump out and yell surprise to Peter and see what he would do.
Carla wondered what Jessica would do if she made a sudden appearance.
The again, did Jessica even knew who Carla was, Maybe Peter hadn't talked about her to Jessica, maybe he hadn't even mentioned the fact that he was married… after all, honesty was clearly not his strong suit… right?
In the end… Carla didn't do anything… Of course she didn't, what could she do other than stand and watch?
Anything that she did do would just make her look like a complete stalker and that was something she was desperately trying to avoid.
She wasn't a stalker, she just knew that it was either this or a bottle of wine.
She just stood and watched as Jessica and Peter wheeled their suitcases right out of the airport and it was then that Carla realised that she felt no better about this situation.
In fact… She felt worse.
After being stuck in hours of traffic, Carla had got home in a horrendous mood.
She went to take a long shower but afterwards she looked in the mirror and she couldn't help but compare herself to Jessica.
There were many things that Carla didn't like about herself but her physical appearance, well that had never been one of them.
In fact Carla had always felt very confident about the way she looked… until now.
Upon another look in the mirror Carla suddenly felt totally inadequate compared to Jessica.
Now this feeling was rather alien to Carla because whilst she always had doubts about how emotionally good enough she was for people, she had always been pretty damn sure that she was physically enough.
Even after Tina she never doubted her appearance because Peter had always made her feel like a total goddess.
From very first time they'd had sex he made her feel like she was the only woman in the entire world.
Their first time was Carla's first time after Frank had done the unthinkable and even though Peter had made sure he was incredibly gentle and that he took his time, he had this incredible way of making Carla feel like he was completely under her spell.
She felt like she owned him, captivated him and yet he also made her feel like it was the other way around.
She was his and he enchanted her.
Even now, during their affair he would practically spend hours, worshipping her body, tracing it delicately with his fingers and telling her that she was utterly perfect and now… Well now she felt worthless.
She felt worthless and it was all because of perfect Jessica.
Now we all know that Carla was acting as if she wasn't a cheater herself. She was acting as if she didn't have a boyfriend who lived right upstairs and as if she hadn't been taking guilty pleasures in the fact that she had two men on the go.
As the afternoon turned into the evening, she continued to act like she was a complete and utter innocent party in all of this.
All she could think about was Peter and what she was going to do the next time he paid her a visit.
What she wanted to do was give him a huge piece of her mind and let him know that he was completely out of order but she wasn't sure what would happen if he knocked on her door.
She wasn't sure she trusted herself to resist his advances.
After all, she was supposed to have been mad at him that first time she saw him outside her building and look what happened there.
She was sure he would try to charm his way out of it anyway.
She was sure he'd have a thousand excuses as to why he lied also.
As she got dressed Carla honestly felt as if her whole world had suddenly become consumed by this Jessica and she wondered if she had any idea that Peter was cheating on her.
Thoughts of if Jessica actually knew the real Peter, took Carla over.
She wondered if she knew about his past, about his issues with alcohol, about his endless list of infidelities and if she knew just how dangerous being in love with him actually was.
At first Carla felt bad for Jessica. She felt like maybe she should warn her.
That she should tell her exactly what Peter was like and to tell her to run for the hills.
Carla smiled wickedly as she felt like she had suddenly had a brain wave... Yes, that was what she should do.
Peter so deserved it, she should somehow get in contact with this woman and tell her exactly what her boyfriend had been up to for the past two months.
Carla soon knew that the only reason that she wanted to speak to Jessica and warn her was so that ultimately... she could have Peter all to herself.
After pacing her flat she sat down on her sofa with a large glass of wine and tried to work out how she truly was feeling about everything.
Carla couldn't work out if she was upset or not... although even if she was, She hadn't cried for Peter in the longest time and she had no intention to do it now either.
He had angered her more than anything, he had made her the other woman and she couldn't stand it.
She wanted to be the only woman.
Four hours went by before there was a knock at Carla's door.
She stood up and gulped, wondering if it was Peter.
Maybe he had thought of her after all.
Maybe he had been as desperate to see her as she had been him.
She decided she'd give him the benefit of the doubt.
That she'd at least let him explain but...
Of course...
It wasn't Peter… It was Nick, armed with a bottle of red wine and a loving look on his face.
It was a look that showed Carla that she was loved, craved and enough… well for him at least.
Lets just say she didn't think twice about crashing into his arms and letting him lead her to her bedroom.
Nick ended up spending the night and he slept peacefully next to Carla, whilst she tossed and turned and had the worst nights sleep imaginable.
She couldn't fight the images of Jessica and Peter that soon invaded her dream.
There were images of Jessica laying across Peter's chest with her long red hair scattered across his soft skin.
She had images of them both kissing, touching and caressing each other in ways that Carla desperately missed.
She had images of Jessica's back curving upwards, images of their hands gripping the bed sheets and just as Peter was about to call out her name, Carla woke suddenly.
It was then, as she caught her breath and as she realised that she was only dreaming, Carla decided that she really had to end things with Nick.
Because he was a really decent and honest bloke and she was lying next to him in agony over someone else.
Because at first she was only using Peter for sex and now… well now she was unable to focus on her energy on anyone else but him.
She let Nick wake up in his own time, she decided he deserved a slight lay in and it would be unfair for her to disrupt his sleep so that she could then, disrupt his life.
He came into her living room and as she stood up, Nick immediately knew that something was wrong.
Carla asked him to take a seat and said that whilst she was completely grateful to Nick for everything he had done... she couldn't do this anymore.
Nick didn't understand at first. He asked her what she meant and why all of a sudden she felt this way.
Obviously Carla wasn't about to tell Nick that she had spent the last few months cheating on him with Peter because as stupid as it sounded, she didn't want to hurt him anymore than she had to.
It would be bad enough to hear that she was ending things without him having to hear that once again Peter Barlow was the reason for it all.
She told him that she wasn't happy anymore and that she was with him for all the wrong reasons.
He refused to believe Carla at first. He wouldn't let her end it and he told her that what ever it was... they could work through it.
It really did seem as if Nick wasn't going to take no for an answer but then Carla told him that she warned him.
She warned him, she told him that she would end up hurting him and she said that she wished he had listened to her because now it was too late.
Nick paused then, he took a few deep breaths and he eventually asked Carla if she had maybe done something that would hurt him and she guiltily said yes.
She said that she wouldn't tell him how but that she had hurt him bad and that she couldn't live a lie anymore.
Nick begged her to tell him, he begged and he pleaded but Carla knew she couldn't… it would destroy Nick to hear about Peter and as pathetic as it sounded, telling Nick would be against "the rules".
Carla hated seeing Nick cry and ended up crying herself.
Despite everything she still really cared about him and she knew that he really did love her.
Upon thinking about things some more she thought that if it wasn't for Peter... she and Nick would probably have been alright... actually they would have been more than alright and they probably would have had a beautiful future together but of course it was way too late to be thinking that way now.
The break up only made Carla feel even worse about herself and by the time Nick had left her place, all she could think about was seeing Peter.
She had no idea what she would say or do, whether she would keep quiet about breaking up with Nick or tell him everything she had found out.
All she knew was that seeing him would make her feel better, seeing him would help her know what to do next.
She didn't have to wait too long… It was half past six that evening when her buzzer went off.
It was loud, unexpected and it went off again and again until she answered it.
She didn't even have time to speak because the sound of Peter's gruff and angry voice suddenly boomed through her intercom…
"Carla! Let me in… now!"