Carla had regretted agreeing to help Michelle with this last minute party from the moment she had said yes. Michelle had received a call two weeks ago and was asked to organise a surprise nineties birthday party for a woman who was turning twenty-five. The woman's boyfriend was actually the one who had called Michelle and at the time she was round Carla's flat. Michelle had initially said no to him but Carla talked her into it saying that it would be good for business, if Michelle could show people that she could handle last minute parties as well as ones that were in advance. Michelle found her self saying yes but only if Carla agreed to help her.
So that was how Carla ended up was spending her Saturday night in a room full twenty something's and various cardboard cut outs. Michelle had got them specially made at a photo printing place and had them put all around the room, many of the party guests posed for pictures with them and they seemed to be a really big hit. There were cut outs of The Spice Girls, The cast of Friends, Will Smith, Britney Spears, Leonardo DiCaprio in his Titanic days (Which Carla said she wanted to take home at the end of the night) and many more icons from the nineties era.
The venue for the party was a pub function room in town and upon walking into the place Carla was far from impressed, but an hour or so later the room had looked much better, Michelle had hung up a black curtain around most of the room and then layered some fairy lights over that, Carla's job was to inflate some gold and silver balloons and then place around the room to finish it off, She moaned at first but she begun to enjoy helping Michelle out soon enough. The DJ came with his own set of disco lights and once they were set up, it was as if this standard pub back room had been transformed into a glamorous venue.
The music how ever was far from glamorous, The DJ had nineties music only policy and as Tragedy from Steps blared out of the speakers Carla rolled her eyes dramatically. She was sat at the bar whilst Michelle was off being introduced to various people who praised her on her efforts. Carla sighed as she sipped her wine and watched everyone around have fun. She had to admit she was beginning to feel jealous of the many happy couples that were at the party.
When the birthday girl walked into the venue and everyone popped out saying surprise, she jumped into her boyfriend's arms and burst into floods of happy tears. Carla couldn't think of anyone who would want to surprise her like that, well apart from Michelle and every time a slow song came on and people coupled up to dance she felt like starting to cry herself.
Carla had no idea why she was all of a sudden feeling so lonely but she'd woken up in the morning feeling like there was something missing in her life. She had told her self that it was down to the rather emotional evening she had spent with Simon last night but as the day went on and the more happy couples she had to endure kissing the more she lonely she began to feel.
Carla then began to think about the day she had planned on Monday, She was more than a little bit of nervous about it and she hadn't told anyone about what she was going to do, not even Michelle knew about these plans. Carla knew that keeping all these secrets to herself probably had a lot to do with why she was feeling so lonely but she just wasn't ready to tell Michelle about Monday yet. She turned her back onto the crowd and sighed as Michelle made her way towards her
"You were so right about doing this party" She said excitedly "I've just met three potential clients who all want parties planned too" Carla nodded, happy that her best friends business seemed to be booming.
"I'm happy for you Chelle I really am..." Michelle frowned because Carla didn't look happy at all
"Well it don't flaming look like you're happy, Are you not having fun?" she asked, Carla raised her eyebrows
"Well I would be its just ... I don't know anyone here babe and all these happy couples are making me feel like a right loner." She said "Oh and I'm probably the oldest person here which is making me even more depressed"
"Don't be ridiculous you are not the oldest person here" Michelle laughed, Carla was unconvinced "I reckon the DJ's in his early fifties at least" Michelle said pointing at the man who was doing the Tragedy dance routine to along with the crowd. Carla rolled her eyes and finished her glass of wine, Michelle looked back at Carla who was now fiddling with her silver sweetie bracelet "What's wrong?" Carla shrugged
"I just feel a little... I dunno" She hesitated as the woman whose birthday it was came running over and said she must introduce Michelle to her Mum and Dad.
"Go on" Carla said deciding that now defiantly wasn't the time for her to have a heart to heart with Michelle.
"No Carla" Michelle started but Carla shook her head at her
"Chelle we'll talk later okay?" She said pulling her phone out of her bag. Michelle looked apologetic and nodded at Carla as she was dragged off back into the crowd. Carla looked at her phone and saw she had a message from Simon, which said
"We're all goin cinema and bowling for my birthday next Saturday I really hope you can come. x"
Carla couldn't remember the last time she had been bowling and she wondered who this "we're all was" but she texted Simon back saying that she would be there as she really loved spending time with him and she really wanted him to have a fantastic birthday.
She was in deep feeling sorry for herself mode and set about ordering another large wine when she heard an extremely familiar voice say
"Hi can I just get an orange juice please?"
This voice... It was so familiar that it almost knocked Carla off of her stool, she spun around quickly to face the voice before it went away.
"Peter" She exclaimed, He stared back at her awestruck he was dressed in dark jeans and a white shirt. His hair was shorter then before but he still had his trademark beard.
"Carla?" He said not quite believing the sight in front him. She jumped off of the stool and for a moment he thought she was going to give him a hug, instead she just stood on the spot awkwardly in front of him. They both stared at each other some more as neither one of them had expected this to happen. Carla looked him up and down, She instantly remembered what Simon had told her last night about Peter's new fitness regime. After a few moments of staring in silence, She was the one to speak first
"What are you doing ere?" She asked because the last she knew he was still down in Portsmouth and he wasn't due back in Manchester until at least next Sunday.
"Erm I was invited" he said rather amused, He then looked Carla up and down a few times just so he could take her in properly.
When she was getting dressed earlier that night Carla had literally just picked the first thing she saw hanging up in her wardrobe, she'd gotten home from work late and she didn't have time to be fussy. She had put on a simple grey dress, it was quite short and tight but it had still had long sleeves, which still kept it slightly casual. It was nothing special but as Peter blatantly looked her up and down she was glad she'd picked something that made her look good. He eventually looked back up and caught Carla's gaze as the bar tender cleared his throat letting Peter know his drink was ready.
"I mean I thought you were in Portsmouth" Carla said as the bar tender handed Peter an orange juice, he then looked at Carla's empty glass of wine and asked her if she wanted another, She shook her head without even looking away from Peter for a second.
"I ave this mate James and he kept going on about how he hadn't seen me in ages and how he wanted me to come to his daughters birthday party" Peter explained "So as its Si's birthday next weekend I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and come down a bit early to surprise him" Peter looked around him at all the young people dancing to the Macarena enthusiastically and then back at Carla, She smirked knowing exactly what he was thinking.
"Michelle's got herself this party planning business So this delightful nineties fest is all down to her, I just came to help out and by help out I mean raid the free bar" Carla explained with a grin as he was obviously wondering why she was there. There was another awkward moment between them and they both stood there smiling at each other, Carla broke eye contact first and scanned the dance floor for Michelle but she was nowhere to be seen.
"Small world eh" Peter said Carla nodded at him slowly, wishing she'd of said yes to the wine top up now. She titled her head to one side
"So... How you doing?"
"I'm good" Peter said, He took a sip of orange juice without taking his gaze off of Carla, "Listen I err wanted to surprise Simon, so if you see him don't tell him you saw me okay?" He said
"My lips are sealed" Carla promised because she knew Simon would be delighted to see that his Dad was back almost a week earlier then he said he would be. She couldn't help but wonder what Peter would say if he knew she'd spent last night watching a movie with Simon and then crying with him about the loss of their baby. Carla began gazing around the room trying to find Michelle in the crowd, She was dying for Michelle to see the situation that she had suddenly found herself in. Bumping into an ex would usually just be a coincidence and something she would ignore but the fact that it was Peter that she had bumped into after feeling so depressed and lonely, almost made Carla as if some higher power was trying to mess with her or something. She finally spotted Michelle standing in the corner talking to the birthday girl. Carla jumped off of her stool suddenly, Peter watched her a little warily as she craned her neck to check Michelle was still in the same place
"You okay?" He asked,
"Just give me a minute" Carla said smiling at him and then dashing off in Michelle's direction.
She squeezed through the crowd and finally caught up to Michelle
"Carla" Michelle said grabbing her eagerly and pointing her towards the blonde birthday girl, She was in a neon pink dress the kind that which Carla would never be seen dead in.
"Susie this is my best mate Carla, she helped with tonight" Michelle said proudly
"Happy Birthday" Carla said with a false grin, She was desperate to get Michelle on her own, Luckily Susie had lots of people to entertain, she squealed obviously spotting someone from across the room and she ran over to them leaving the two best friends alone. Carla grabbed Michelle by the shoulders and turned her around hastily
"Carla what are you?" Carla pushed her forward slightly and pointed in Peter's direction
"Recognise anyone at the bar?" Carla asked, Michelle scanned past the crowds and eventually fixed her gaze on the bar, her jaw dropped when she saw Peter Barlow stood there sipping an orange juice.
"No way!" She said astonished, Carla nodded behind her "What's he doing here?" Michelle asked turning and facing Carla properly
"He knows that Susie's Dad" She said
"Hey well at least you know somebody here now" Michelle smirked
"Oh yeah ha ha" Carla said sarcastically "I think he's waiting for me to come back."
"Right?" Michelle said slowly as if she couldn't understand what Carla's problem was.
"I don't know what to say to him" Carla said anxiously "I thought I'd have time to prepare for this kinda thing y'know"
Michelle turned and took another long look at Peter, even though she was quite far away from him she could definitely tell that he'd made a few changes to his life.
"He looks good I'll give him that" Michelle said with an eyebrow raised
"That's not helpful at all Chelle" Carla said she took a deep breath
"Well it's true aint it? " Michelle said still eying him up and down, Carla frowned at her best friend, pretending like she hadn't been paying any attention to Peter's physical appearance herself. She had to admit to that he did look a lot healthier than the last time she had seen him. It wasn't that Peter was particularly unhealthy before it was just very noticeable that he had a new lifestyle.
"What should I do?" Carla asked her arms were now folded
"What d'ya mean?"
"Chelle what should I say to him?" She asked then she realised that she was starting to behave like some teenager with a silly crush rather than a grown woman who bumped into her ex.
"What do you mean? It's Peter." She said wondering why Carla was acting as if they had nothing they could possibly talk about. Carla tutted and stared at Peter from a far "Talk about Simon, Talk about how close you two ave become." Michelle suggested
"I dunno I don't think Simon's told him about that and I don't wanna step on his toes or anything" Carla said but then she shook her head and said "You know what, you're right, I'm just being stupid. This is Peter Barlow we're talking about, I'm married to the man for gods sake" And with that Carla made her way back through the crowds towards the bar.
Peter smiled contentedly as Carla returned and stood in front of him again.
"Found her" She said pointing Michelle out to Peter, he waved at Michelle and She waved back grinning at them both before being spoken to by one of the party goers.
"She looks well." Peter said awkwardly not knowing what else to say to Carla
"We were just saying the same thing about you to be honest" Carla said smirking, she didn't think she should mention that Simon had told her anything about Peter's new lifestyle but she couldn't help but tease him "What d'ya do? Get your self a personal trainer whilst you were down in Portsmouth?" He laughed sheepishly at her and put his empty glass down onto the bar.
"Not exactly, I've just been trying to get a bit more healthy that's all" He said feeling rather pleased that his new lifestyle was obviously noticeable "Me doctor reckons that exercise is addictive and it's supposed to help with any…cravings I might have"
"Well that makes sense I spose" Carla nodded rather impressed that Peter seemed to be getting on well with his new life, She could sense that Michelle was watching them from across the room, so she turned her self around slightly so her face wasn't so visible to Michelle.
"It does, I mean I always feel really good after a little workout and it can get quite addictive at times, Though I'm not gonna lie so does sitting at home on me sofa with a takeaway and Netflix" Carla laughed at him and sat back down a stool, She titled her head on one side watching Peter rather intensely "What?" he said beginning to get paranoid at the way she was looking at him
"Nothing, it's just…" She grinned, "It's good to see you Peter" She admitted a little self-consciously.
"You too" He nodded and they just stood together awkwardly for a while whilst the party continued in full swing, Eventually Michelle made her way over to the pair of them smugly
"Hiya Peter" She said her arms went straight around his neck and as she pulled him in close Carla raised her eyebrows at her.
"Hello Michelle" He said also rather surprised that Michelle was so forthcoming towards him
"How are you doing?" She asked him, moving back and standing next to him and opposite Carla so she could watch her behaviour closely.
"Yeah I'm good I can't complain, I was just saying to Carla… I really feel like things are going quite well at the moment" he said Michelle and Carla nodded at him both truly pleased to hear he was doing well "She told me about the buisness, Congratulations you've done an amazing job in ere, you wouldn't think it was the same place that I'd been chucked out of many a time." Peter said remembering the last time he had been there even though it was about five years ago. Michelle nodded at him
"Yeah all in a days work eh Carla" She looked at Carla who was now distracted by some girls that were crowding around the Titanic cardboard cut out that she had her eye on earlier
"Chelle you better be keeping an eye on that thing" She said pointing over at it as two girls knocked it over drunkenly, They picked it up clumsily and posed for some more pictures in front of it
"You're not seriously planning on taking that thing home are you Carla?" Michelle asked, Carla thanked the bartender as he handed her another glass of wine
"I sure am" She said smiling, Peter laughed
"Really" he said amused Carla nodded at him
"Oh you two think I'm joking, wait and see what happens when I leave this place, I'm taking it with me" Peter looked at Michelle
"She's still got a thing for old what's his face then" he chuckled remembering when he was told about how a twenty something year old Carla Connor saw Romeo and Juliet in the cinema and "fell in love" with Leonardo DiCaprio there and then. She gave Peter a small shove
"How can you pretend you don't know his name when you told me he was one of your favourite actors?" Carla said staring at him
"Did I?" Peter said grinning knowing he was winding Carla up, He was glad it wasn't as awkward between them anymore and that they were slowly getting their banter back.
"You did and I remember you saying how you thought that The Wolf Of Wall Street was a cinematic master piece" She said remembering when they'd gone to see it in the cinema and how Peter could not stop raving about it to everyone they spoke to that week.
"Really" Michelle said a little unenthusiastically, she had seen the movie also but she had not enjoyed it at all.
"Chelle it's a movie full of addiction and naked women of course he thought it were good" Carla said and smirked when Peter nodded at her in agreement. He was starting to think that coming back to the street would be rather simple as he and Carla seemed to be getting along okay. The Leonardo cardboard cut out was knocked over again causing Carla to tut and get off her stool. She marched through various party goers and picked it up off of the floor
"How's she been doing?" Peter asked Michelle knowing that she would tell him the truth. Michelle looked back at Carla as she was now saying something to the girls who had knocked Leo over.
"She's been… really good" Michelle began but she started laughing as she saw Leonardo's cardboard head float through the crowd and eventually Carla appeared clutching it tightly.
"Carla what are you doing?" She said shaking her head Carla waved the bartender over and handed him the life size cardboard cut out over the bar
"Do me a favour and keep this safe for the rest of the night" She said smiling charmingly at him, The bartender nodded although his eyebrows were slightly raised. Peter and Michelle both laughed as he stood the cardboard Leonardo against the back wall gingerly and then looked back at Carla, She gave him a thumbs up and then turned back to Peter and Michelle.
"Where you even gonna put that thing?" Michelle asked, trying to imagine a decent place in Carla's flat for it, Carla shrugged at her
"I don't know do I? I ain't thought that far ahead." She said
"What are you gonna do with the rest of em?" Peter asked looking around the room at the other famous faces.
"I dunno really? They'll probably all be battered by the end of the night might just leave em ere" Michelle shrugged "Unless you fancy taking one home that is." Peter shook his head
"Well as tempting as that sounds I think I'll pass, I might get some odd looks from the hotel staff if I get into the lift with one of them." he grinned
"Wait a minute why are you staying in a hotel and not your Dad's?" Carla asked,
"Oh I've got a few things I need to sort out before coming back to Weatherfield" Peter said rather vaguely in Carla's opinion but she didn't feel quite brave enough to ask more nosy questions. The DJ began waving Michelle over from a far,
"Chelle?" Carla said pointing him out to Michelle, She turned to look at him and then sighed
"Give me a moment." she said walking off into the direction of the speakers, a tall man suddenly approached Peter and patted him on the back
"You've not been back in Manchester for long and already you're already chatting up the most beautiful woman in the room." the man laughed,
Peter shook his head at him half-heartedly and cleared his throat
"Trust me, James that's not what I was doing" He said
"So you're the birthday girls Dad then" Carla said smiling politely although she could tell this situation could get very awkward very quickly.
"Yes" he held out his hand for Carla to shake "Nice to meet you I'm James" he said, Carla reached over and shook his hand, She glanced at Peter wondering if he'd ever mentioned her to James, before she could introduce her self properly James had already started talking again
"So how do you know my Susie then?" He asked, Carla shook her head
"Oh I don't I just heard there was a party and thought I'd crash" She joked and Peter laughed along with her but by the look on James' face she quickly withdrew her statement "I'm kidding" She said seriously and James looked rather relieved "I'm a mate of Michelle Connor's she's the one who organised the party" Carla explained
"Oh I see, Yes your friend really has done an amazing job here this place usually looks like a right dive doesn't it Peter" James chuckled obviously remembering some sort of memory of the building and how it had looked before.
"Yeah I was actually saying that earlier" Peter said, James stopped laughing and then looked back at Carla
"Sorry I didn't get your name love" he said. This was it the moment Carla had been waiting for, had Peter even mentioned her to his mates? Had he been talking about how much he missed her and how he had ruined everything.
"It's Carla." she said smiling uncomfortably and waiting for a reaction.
She got one. James looked absolutely stunned
"Wait... This is the Carla?" He said staring at Peter with his eyes wide and then back at Carla who continued to smile uneasily at him.
"Yep" Peter said anxiously because James wasn't the type of guy who kept his mouth shut about anything.
"Wow… Well you said she was gorgeous but that was quite an understatement as far as I'm concerned Peter. Where were you thinking letting this one get away eh?" James said nudging Peter who looked as if he wanted the ground to swallow him up whole. Carla gulped down some more wine as there was a horrendous moment of silence between all of them and even James could see that he'd probably created a very uncomfortable situation. He cleared his throat eventually and made up an excuse to leave the two of them be. Peter looked at Carla apologetically
"Carla, I'm Sorry"
"Don't Peter, Don't make things more awkward then they already are" She said knowing their conversation was about to take a serious turn if she didn't do something stop it fast "We're meant to be ere avin fun, we don't need to drag up all that stuff from the past, not tonight, okay?" Peter nodded because the last thing he wanted to do was talk about how much he had hurt Carla.
"Okay" he agreed although he was sure that things weren't going to be as easy as he had thought earlier. Michelle practically came running over to them, Carla took a deep sigh of relief and put her empty glass down onto the bar.
"Right I'm done meeting all of Susie's friends and family now so come on" Michelle grabbed Carla's hand "We're going to hit dance floor, you coming Peter?" He shook his head
"I think not" He grinned and as Michelle pulled Carla away, She kept her eyes on Peter before she disappeared into the crowd. He watched them dance from a far glad to see that Carla seemed so happy. As the night went on he had spent some more time with James who apologised for making their conversation so awkward earlier and some more of his friends had turned up as well but he'd never really got to talk to Carla again as her and Michelle stayed pretty much on the dance floor.
It was about quarter to midnight when Peter decided that he wanted to leave so he said goodbye to his friends and made his way to the doors. He had wanted to say goodbye to Carla and Michelle but he wasn't too sure about how to go about it, luckily for him Carla and Michelle were on their way to the toilets as he was about to leave.
"You off then?" Michelle asked Peter nodded
"Yes. I guess I'll see you both sometime in the week" He said
"See ya then." Carla said casually although the thought of seeing Peter during the week made her start thinking about Monday's plans again.
"Bye" Peter said smiling, He was a little relived that he had bumped into Carla as that awkward part of his return was over and done with and he felt like he could relax a little more about coming back to Weatherfield next week.
When Carla and Michelle got in the toilets they were surprised to find them empty, Michelle went into one of the cubicles as Carla kept her self busy with looking in the mirror as she didn't actually need to use the toilets.
"Fancy running into Peter Barlow though" Michelle said from her cubicle
"I know right, that were the last thing I were expecting" Carla said sighing and examining her make up in the mirror
"Didn't you know he was coming back ere then?" Michelle asked because she remembered the way Carla had said she thought she would have had more time to prepare for Peter's return and it made her think that Carla might have known this was coming.
"Not tonight I didn't, he was meant to back for Simon's birthday but that's not until next week." Carla answered as Michelle flushed the loo and came out of the toilet. "It were just as much as a surprise for me and it was you"
"What did you talk about whilst I was gone, did it get awkward at all?" She asked as she washed her hands with soap
"Not until his mate came over and started asking Peter why he'd let me go" Carla said rolling her eyes
"Ouch" Michelle said wincing "What did Peter say?"
"Nowt it were well uncomfortable" Carla said hoping she'd never have to be in a situation like that again. Michelle dried her hands and looked at Carla
"So… how long's he staying for?" She asked, Carla shrugged at her
"I don't know, didn't ask" She said sighing, Michelle watched her for a moment
"Are you gonna be okay with him being back? I mean after all this time he's gonna be just across the road from ya." Carla nodded at her but she was looking down at the ground.
"I'll be fine, I can't expect him to stay away from his kid forever can I?" She said "Come on lets get back out there I was just starting to enjoy me self"
The party had turned about to be a huge success, more people kept arriving and it was a good thing that Carla had hidden her cardboard cut out because by the end of the night most of them had either been taken home or battered.
As they sat in the taxi on their way home, Michelle watched Carla as she gazed out of the window. It had begun to rain heavily as the cab made its way back to Weatherfield and they were as the rain splashed against the windows.
"It was a good night wasn't it?" Michelle said breaking the silence in the cab.
"Yeah it really was. You should be really proud of your self" Carla said smiling at Michelle and then going back to look out of the window. Michelle waited a few moments and then said
"You've been unusually quiet for a while now, are you sure you're okay" She'd asked this because Carla had literally been silent since they got in the cab.
"I'm fine Chelle" Carla said softly
"Is it Peter?"
"No…" Carla hesitated, she was about to tell Michelle about where she was going on Monday morning but she knew Michelle would say that it wasn't a good idea and she just wanted to get it over and done with before she had to hear everyone's opinion on the matter. "I've moved on from Peter" She eventually said Michelle raised an eyebrow wondering why it had taken so long for Carla to say that small sentence
"Okay then" She said clearly not convinced
"I know you don't believe me but I ave" Carla said grinning, Michelle shook her head tiredly and yawned
"Whatever you say Carla Barlow" she said making sure she had called her legal name and not Connor just to annoy her some more, Carla rolled her eyes in the dark and nudged Michelle in her side
"I'm serious Chelle, Yeah I still care about him and he's always gonna be a part of me life but I'm not interested in any sort of relationship with him… Okay" Carla said looking at Michelle
"Okay" Michelle nodded and they sat in silence one more until Michelle smirked and said "He looked well fit though and I don't care what you say, you were definitely checking him out the whole time you were talking to him"
"I was not" Carla protested but she had a grin on her face, She turned back to look out the window to hide it but Michelle had already seen it
"Oh give over Carla I've known ya since forever I know when you fancy someone" She said Carla just shook her head and chose not answer her. The cab turned onto Coronation Street and parked outside the rovers return. Michelle paid the cab driver as Carla got out of the cab. Luckily for Carla it had stopped raining because the cab driver got out and opened the boot of his car. Inside was the Leonardo Di Caprio cardboard cut out in almost perfect condition apart from the fact it had been bent at the legs so it could fit in the boot.
"Cheers" Carla said as the cab driver handed it to her with his eyebrows raised.
"I can't believe you actually took that thing home" Michelle said laughing as they went and stood on the pavement outside the rovers. Carla knew this would be her last moment to tell Michelle about Monday as Steve was whisking Michelle of for a romantic surprise tomorrow or today, as it was almost two am. She decided not to say anything in the end and said goodbye to Michelle. As she walked the short walk from the rovers to her building with Leonardo in her arms she almost began to feel excited about Monday… almost.