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"Mistletoe!" Carla cried, stood outside Peter's plat holding up a piece of mistletoe in the winter air.
It was Monday 14th of December and it was insanely cold outside. She was wrapped up in her black winter coat and scarf as she pouted at Peter and waited for her kiss.
"N how long ave you been out ere waiting for me to come out eh?" Peter grinned, leaning in and kissing Carla on the lips. It was cold out but their loving embrace warmed them up for just a moment.
"Mmmm only ten minutes or so." Carla said when she and Peter had finally let go of each other.
"Ten minutes?" Peter said shaking his head at Carla as she linked arms with him.
"What?... You said you wanted me to get into the Christmas spirt so ere I am, in the Christmas spirit." Carla said proudly as they began walking back towards Coronation Street.
"Carla I said get into the Christmas spirit not freeze your arse off." Peter chuckled. Carla nudged him in the side as they turned the corner swiftly. "So does this mean you've got your Christmas tree yet?"
"No but I am in the process of it, I found the perfect decorations online though, wait till you see em." Carla said excitedly.
"Why what are they?" Peter asked but Carla shook her head mysteriously and wouldn't tell him what she had ordered, instead she said,
"Anyways you ave a cheek asking about my tree, when you don't ave one?"
"Ahhh well that's where you are wrong, I'm getting one today. I'm taking Si with me and we're going to get the biggest one we can find." Peter said and it was now his turn to be excited. He could still hardly believe his luck, back together with his son and wife and at christmas as well. "We're gonna decorate it tonight as well if you want to come n join us."
"I'd love to." Carla said with a smile as they made their way into Roy's Rolls for their breakfast.
After breakfast they both went their separate ways to work and spent their days texting each other excitedly about their plans for tonight. Carla said she'd promised Michelle they'd meet for a drink in the pub but she would be round to help Simon and Peter decorate their tree straight after.
It was around six pm when Carla walked into The Rover's and saw Michelle stood next to the bar with her arm around someone. It was someone Carla hadn't seen for a very very long time and someone who she really didn't want to see for a very very long time.
"Carla!" Michelle cried, upon spotting Carla who was stood in the pub doorway. "Look who it is!" She said rather over excitedly. Carla had been expecting this eventually after what Leanne had told her on Saturday and sighed as the someone next to Michelle turned around and smiled.
"Well well... look what the cat dragged in." He smirked as he walked over to Carla. He was a tall, dark haired man, clean shaven with bright green eyes. He put an arm around Carla and hugged her tight but she didn't exactly hug him back, instead she stared at Michelle as if to say, "Why the hell is he here?"
"Isn't this a nice surprise?" Michelle said with her hands on her hips.
"Yeah… for you I spose." Carla said as the old friend let go of her. "Alright Rich." She said finally acknowledging the man who has suddenly come back into her life.
"Oh I'm good... especially now I've seen your pretty face." Rich said as Liz came from out back and smiled at the unfamiliar face.
"Ello…" She said to him, then she looked at Michelle who was still grinning from ear to ear. "Who's this then?"
"Oh, this is Rich, he's one of my many many cousins." Michelle began, "He used to work in the shoe shop with Carla when she were sixteen." She said, as if this was something Carla really wanted to remember and reminisce about.
"Yeah we used to ave a right old laugh, didn't we Carla." Rich said, still smirking like an idiot at her, when she was doing her very best not to glare back at him.
"I wouldn't go that far." Carla said sighing and then looking at Michelle. "Are we having that drink or not then Chelle?"
"Yeah of course, you will join us won't us Rich." Michelle said still not picking up on Carla's blatant hostility towards her cousin.
"Course I will." He said walking over to a table and sitting down on the sofa, he then patted the space next to him and said, "Come on Carlaroo." Carla winced at the old nickname and looked at Michelle.
"Look Chelle I've got to meet Peter n Simon soon so I can't be long." She began but then Rich interrupted her.
"Peter? Isn't that your ex? The one that cheated on you?" Rich said with yet another annoying smirk on his face. Michelle's eyes went wide and she shook her head at Rich suddenly.
"Yes but... Peter and Carla are back together actually." Michelle said quickly, going around the bar and pouring them all some drinks. Carla joined her at the bar and when she was sure Rich wasn't listening she hissed,
"Michelle what the hell is he doing ere?"
"He said he was just in the area." Michelle said smiling, genuinely glad to see an old face from the past. "He's just come to say hello."
"Yeah right… He wants something Chelle… Probably money or an alibi of both." Carla muttered, Michelle sighed and shook her head at Carla's attitude towards her cousin. "He's trouble Chelle."
"Don't be like that. People can change you know." She said,
"Yeah well I'm willing to put money on the fact that he hasn't." Carla said as Michelle handed her a glass of wine.
"Look Carla I know you two haven't always seen eye to eye but can't you just be civil to him, like he is to you." Michelle said pointedly, Carla nodded at Michelle although she was sure Rich was actually taking the mick with her rather than being civil. "I'll be over in a minute, go on." Michelle said nodding Carla over to where Rich was sat.
Carla went and sat down on the seat opposite Rich but got her phone out to pretend like she was busy so that she didn't have to make small talk. Rich watched her for a moment and then said,
"Wow… Talk about anti social." Carla looked up at him from her phone for a moment and then back down at it. "Charming." Rich sighed as Michelle came over with a bottle of beer for him and some wine for herself.
"Isn't this nice." Michelle grinned trying to make everything seem all light-hearted and fun but Carla was still looking down at her phone instead of up and at the people that she was sat with.
"Is she always like this?" Rich asked her, still with his eyes fixated on Carla.
"Oh… She's probably texting Peter." Michelle smiled but she gave Carla a swift kick underneath the table. Carla glared up at her best friend but put her phone away anyways, she knew Michelle had to be nice to her family but that didn't mean she had to.
"I'm going to meet him and Simon soon so as I said I'm only ere for just the one." Carla said taking a huge sip of wine and then another and another, so that she could finish it quickly and then make a run for it.
"Woah woah what's the rush?" Rich said,
"I just said... we ave plans." Carla said.
"Why don't you invite him in ere? I want to meet this Peter." Carla shot Rich a dark look and then shook her head, "What... I do?" He grinned.
"Well I doubt he'd want to meet you if I'm honest."
"Carla!" Michelle exclaimed.
"Ahh don't worry about it Chelle, I'm sure she's joking." Rich smirked as Carla picked up her glass and finished her drink.
"Trust me, I'm not." Carla said standing up and she was about to say goodbye to Michelle when Peter came through the pub doors. "Peter?" She said, surprised to see him without Simon.
"Hey..." Peter said, "Si's not ready yet so I thought I'd gate-crash this drink." He spoke cheerily but his expression changed when Carla went and put an arm around him and shook her head.
"Can we just go please?" She asked. Peter looked at her for a moment and then at Rich who was watching them both.
"I'm guessing you're Rich." Peter said, leaning forward so that he could shake his hand.
"Good guess." Rich said, returning the handshake and grinning at Peter smugly.
"I'm Peter." Said Peter as Carla sighed, he noticed this sigh and then looked at her. "You really want to go home?"
"Yes." She said,
"Oh come on Carla that was barley five minutes." Michelle said getting up, "Sit down you two, Peter I'll get you a lemonade."
"A lemonade?" Rich exclaimed as Carla reluctantly sat back down on the sofa opposite him.
"Yes. I don't drink." Peter said sitting next to Carla.
"You're crazy mate." Rich said then he looked at Carla who was still sulking about having to stay in the pub with him. "Especially if you're married to this one, I mean she's had enough alcohol in her system to last us all a lifetime."
"Oh what would you know about it? The last time you saw me I were what? Eighteen." Carla said bitterly, as Michelle returned with Peter's lemonade.
"Thanks Michelle." Peter nodded but he was continuing to watch Carla closely. He knew something wasn't right about this situation and he knew that this Rich was really getting to Carla.
"Even so…" Rich continued, "You used to knock it back like it was going out of style."
"What's this?" Michelle asked smiling at Rich and Carla, thinking that they were having a reminiscent chat about the old days.
"Carla and her drinking." Rich said smirking, "Remember Chelle all those parties that we went to, she used to really go for it."
"She still does." Michelle said, leaning over and poking Carla, who didn't respond.
"Good times eh?" Rich said, picking up his beer and drinking it.
"So… how long d'ya reckon you'll be in the area for?" Michelle asked as Peter put an arm around Carla's waist and pulled her towards him a little. She leant against him and smiled properly for the first time since she had stepped foot in the pub.
"Hmmm I'm not sure yet?" Rich said watching Carla and Peter closely and from where Peter was sitting it almost looked like this Rich was jealous.
"Probably just until you get what you want eh Rich?" Carla said dryly as Peter picked up his lemonade and started to drink it.
"And what makes you think I want something?" He replied trying to stare Carla out, She stared back at him in a way that made Michelle nervous.
"Because you always do… you always want what you can't ave." Carla said, Rich shook his head at her slowly and drank a sip of beer before saying,
"N what's that supposed to mean?" Peter put his glass down on the table and then turned to Carla, he looked at her, wondering the same as Rich actually.
"You know flamin well what it means." Carla said, giving Peter a nudge and getting up off the sofa. "Come on you, we've got a Christmas tree to decorate." Peter got up and obeyed his wife although the current topic of conversation had been really intriguing him. He knew that Carla and Rich obviously had history and he tried to rack his brains to see if he could remember Carla ever mentioning Rich before.
"Carla…" Michelle sighed shaking her head.
"Simon is waiting for us." Carla said to Michelle as Peter took her hand.
"See ya." Peter said wanting to stay but not wanting Carla to be in a situation like this for a moment longer.
"Bye." Michelle said, irritated that Carla was leaving.
Once they were outside, Peter turned to Carla and said,
"Okay… what was all that about?"
"Oh… do I ave to Peter… I'm meant to be getting into the Christmas spirit ere, not talking about that creep." Carla said as they began walking hand in hand to Leanne's flat to meet Simon.
"and why's he a creep again?" Peter asked, concerned now because Carla's childhood and teenage years had seemed to be full of horrible people who did horrible things and he was really hoping that this Rich was one of them, for Rich's sake if anything else because if he found out that Rich had ever done anything to hurt Carla, he knew he wouldn't be responsible for his actions.
"He just is…" Carla began but she knew Peter's mind was going to some quite dark places, Simon soon appeared in his black coat and smiled as he said,
"So are we going to get this tree then?"
"Course we are." Peter said and as Simon started walking off he looked and Carla and said, "You ain't off the hook… we'll talk later."
Carla nodded at him although talking about Rich to Peter was really one of the last things that she wanted to do. She just hoped that he would forget about it and that she would be able to distract him in someway.
Three hours and a lot of driving later, Carla held the door open for Peter as he and Simon stumbled into his flat with their brand new Christmas tree. It was huge, over Six foot in fact. They had driven to various places that were selling them but it took them ages to find the "perfect" one.
"You don't think this is a little OTT…" Carla said as Simon and Peter had to squeeze past her, tree in both of their hands.
"Nah… it's just what we wanted isn't it Si." Peter said triumphantly, as they took the tree over to the corner where they had been planning to put it.
"Yep." Simon said, helping his Dad stand the tree upright and then smiling. Carla smiled too at the thrilled look on Simon's face and closed the door to Peter's flat as they took of their winter coats.
"Uh… look at all the little green bits on the floor… this is why I hate real trees." Carla said, as she tiptoed over them.
"Carla they aren't going to hurt your precious boots y'know." Peter chuckled as she took off her coat and hung it beside his.
"Dad where are all the decorations that you bought?" Simon asked excitedly, wanting to get started as soon as possible.
"In the cupboard down the hall." Peter said as Carla wrapped her arms around him from behind and gently kissed him on the back of the neck.
"Hmmm I bet you went really tacky and bought a whole load Fresco's finest..." Carla said with her lips still pressed against his neck. In her high heels she was a lot taller than him and she rested her head on his shoulder as he laughed and said,
"Oh we sure did." Simon returned with some bags full of decorations that Peter had bought earlier in the week and as he looked in them Carla spotted some brightly coloured tinsel and shuddered. "N what exactly ave you got against tinsel?" Peter asked her as she let him go and delved into the bag.
"It's not the tinsel… it's the colour of it? I mean what's wrong with just sliver n gold?"
"Oh that's just boring… besides me n Simon couldn't pick, so we just went for it all." Peter said grinning as Carla pulled out a bright blue piece of tinsel and shook her head at it.
"Nah… you cannot ave all these colours on your tree Peter, it'll clash." She said as Simon got down on his knees and delved into the bags even more. "You gotta at least have some sort of theme."
"We do ave a theme… It's Christmas." Peter replied as Carla pulled out some more of the tinsel and shook her head again.
"I meant a colour theme." She said throwing the bright pink piece of tinsel at him.
"A colour theme?" Simon scoffed opening a box of Christmas lights. "Dad can I put the lights on." He asked, Peter nodded at him and then shook his head at Carla, amused.
"A colour theme eh? I'm guessing that you have one in mind then?"
"I'm thinking white lights and silver tinsel." Carla said dreamily as Peter lassoed the tinsel around her body.
"Yeah…" he said, pulling her towards him by the tinsel, "As I said, that's boring." Peter grinned as Carla giggled and put her arms around his neck.
"No… I think it sounds rather classy actually." She said.
"Well you can decorate your tree like that but me n Si here are going to go completely mad with this one, aren't we Si." Peter said, as Simon was already up on his feet and stringing lights around the tree.
"Yep…" he said, Carla looked at the lights that Peter had bought and then sighed,
"Oh wow, coloured lights n all… god this tree is going to look like a right state." She grinned.
"You are supposed to be ere to help, not criticise." Peter said poking Carla in the side.
"I am trying to help." She laughed, Peter kissed her, as Simon realised he needed to start his light organisation again and began unwinding them from the tree. He turned to ask for some help and said,
"Oh do you two ave to." He was cringing at his Dad and Carla, who were kissing passionately, Carla still with tinsel around her waist. "Oi…" Simon cried, reaching up on the sofa and throwing a pillow at them both.
"Sorry Si." Carla said, wriggling away from Peter and going to join him on the floor. "Right… let me help you with these lights." She said helping him take them off the tree. "Come on Peter… get to it." She grinned pointing at the heap of decorations on the floor.
Peter smiled elatedly at his son and wife as he started taking out the rest of the Christmas decorations out of the bags as he joined Simon and Carla next to the tree.
Simon was incredibly happy to be decorating the tree with his Dad and Carla, he thought about last year and how much time he spent wishing that his Dad was there. It didn't take Simon long to realised that if he wanted this tree done, he needed to take charge as Carla and Peter seemed to keep getting distracted with playful pokes and tempting glances.
"Right you two... I've had enough of this." He said.
Simon told his Dad that he needed to choose some baubles to go onto the tree, whilst he and Carla worked together to wrap the lights around the tree so that they were equally distributed.
"Equally distributed?" Peter laughed, "Check him out."
Simon and Carla got the lights perfect, just how Simon wanted them but they then realised that the tree had been placed too far away from a plug socket. So then they all had to work together to move the tree to the other corner of the room so that they could plug in the lights.
"No wait…" Carla cried, just as Simon was about to turn the switch on.
"What?" Simon asked almost laughing at Carla's outburst.
"Don't turn the lights on yet… you ave to wait until the tree is done so that you can get the full effect."
"Good idea." Simon nodded at her, he then smiled at her lovingly.
"What?" Carla said as Peter went into the kitchen to get a drink.
"Nothing... I'm just really happy." Simon said still smiling.
"Me too." Carla nodded putting her arms around Simon and pulling him close. Peter watched them from the kitchen heartfelt, still unable to believe how lucky he was. He then went back into the living room as Carla and Simon let go of each other.
"I'm going to the loo and then we'll get started on the proper decorations." Simon said after looking at the tree once more and double checking that the lights were perfect.
Carla walked over to Peter who was supposed have to be sorting out the baubles but who instead was reading the paper.
"Oi…" She said, giving him a soft kick with her now bare foot. "You are supposed to be deciding which baubles you wanted to put on the tree."
"Yeah… I did... Let's just whack em all on there." Peter said, closing the paper and reaching for Carla again, now that Simon was out the room for a moment.
"All of em? Peter you bought a box of one hundred, I mean talk about overkill." Carla said, as he pulled her towards him by her dress. "What are you doing?" She giggled as Peter leant forward and kissed her.
"Oh nothing… I just can't seem to get enough of you that's all." Peter said,
"Mmmm" Carla said kissing him again, "Simon is so not going to impressed with you when he gets back in ere and sees you haven't chosen which baubles are going on the tree." Carla batted him away gently and then said, "Come on... get up."
"I told you… we're putting all of them on." Peter said getting up of the sofa and following Carla back over to the tree.
"Y'know what… I'm not getting involved." Carla said shaking her head and looking up at the six-foot tree in front of her. "Actually... if you put all the baubles on then you won't ave enough space for all that shocking tinsel… so maybe you are onto something after all."
"You are such a snob Carla Barlow." Peter said wrapping his arms around Carla as Simon came back into the room.
"You're not kissing again are ya?" Simon asked, Carla shook her head at him and laughed.
"No, your Dad just called me a snob, so he's not getting anything from me for a while." She said as Simon went and looked into the box that he had given his Dad.
"You are kinda a snob… But we love ya all the same." Simon grinned as he bent down and looked at the box he had given his Dad. Carla's draw dropped even though she wasn't actually offended by Simon's comment. "You were supposed to sort these out Dad." Simon wined.
"Yeah I did…" Peter began but Carla shook her head at him and said,
"No you didn't, you were reading the paper."
"Oh thanks very much, Supergrass." Peter said to Carla.
"Dad!" Simon sighed, bending down and picking up the box. "You only had one job."
"How about you just put all the green and red ones on the tree, I mean you really don't want a thousand different colours on this thing… It'll give you a right headache." Carla suggested with Peter's arms still wrapped lovingly around her body.
"Yeah… Good idea." Simon agreed nodding along with Carla again.
"Oh I'm just full of those, me." Carla said smugly as Simon took some baubles out of the box.
"Come on Dad put her down and help me." He grinned. Peter nodded and went to help Simon decorate the rest of the tree.
They placed some baubles all over the tree and then much to Carla's annoyance added three separate pieces of tinsel.
"No... I am not letting you put that pink one on there... no way." She cried grabbing it off Peter as Simon's phone buzzed on the coffee table, he went over and looked at it as Carla and Peter stayed in front of the tree. As the three of them were all way under six foot it was a bit of a job putting the decorations up the top and it looked slightly bare. Peter had tried to put some baubles up there but he couldn't quite reach.
"Hmmm maybe we should just leave the top." Peter said with his hand under his chin in thinking mode after trying to successfully put one on the tree.
"Don't be ridiculous Peter, you can't leave the top." Carla said, she had her high heeled boots off ages ago but got on her tip-toes and tried to reach the top branch and then said, "Here hand me that decoration."
"Oh like you're going to be able to reach." Peter scoffed,
"Well I am just that little bit taller than you." she teased, giving him a nudge.
"Oh you are not!" Peter chuckled.
"Give us a piggy back then instead." Carla said his giggling and hopping onto Peter's with out any warning.
"Ahhh" Peter cried as she wrapped her legs around him.
Simon was texting on his phone as Peter and Carla worked together to put the decorations on the top of the tree. They were nearly done when Peter stumbled forward and almost crashed right into the tree, with Carla in tow.
"Peter!" Carla screamed as Simon looked up and said,
"What are you two doing?" he asked walking over to them as Peter steadied himself.
"Trying to reach the top of the tree." Carla said, still on Peter's back as he edged towards the tree.
"Oh right…" Simon laughed, as Carla fixed a decoration onto it. "You know you could have just taken one of the stools from the breakfast bar?"
Peter and Carla both grinned at each other and looked sheepish, as Simon's idea was an obvious one.
"Well it's too late now." Carla laughed, "That were the last one… well except for the very top of it… what you got?"
"There's an angel somewhere in one of those bags." Peter said then he grinned at Carla cheesily and said, "Or we could just put you on top."
"Mmmmhmm." Carla said quietly as Simon rolled his eyes.
"Dad you are so cringe." He said going into the bag and pulling out the Angel. "Who wants to put it on top?"
"You do it Si." Carla said with a smile.
"Yeah go on Si." Peter said nudging him forward.
There was a moment of silence as Simon went forward on his tip-toes to put the angel on the top of the tree. He couldn't reach it either.
"Hop on Si." Peter said chuckling, Simon sighed and then jumped onto his Dad's back.
They moved forward and put the angel on the top of the tree. When Simon jumped down, the three of them stood and looked at the tree for a moment.
Something was not right and it took a while before they noticed it.
"Errrr the lights." Carla said, Simon laughed and ran over to the plug socket.
"Ready." He said before turning on the plug and then getting up to join Carla and Peter.
They looked at the bright likes together and there was another moment of silence, a happy one, one where the three of them just smiled at the tree in front of them. They were all having such a perfect time together, one that this time last year they would have never dreamed of having.
"So… what d'ya think?" Peter said to Carla who had her head on one side.
"Actually… I kinda... love it." She said looking at the tree earnestly.
"Really." Peter asked as Simon put his arm around Carla.
"Yeah… It's still kinda tacky but… we did it together." Carla said her arm going around Simon's shoulders.
"I think it looks dead good." Simon began, "I can't wait to show Santana."
"Santana?" Peter said with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah… I invited her over for dinner tomorrow… if that's okay." Simon said sheepishly, hoping his Dad wouldn't mind about his secret plans.
"No wonder you showed so much interest in the tree." Peter said putting his arm around the other side of Carla.
"Awww it's sweet." Carla said, "He wanted it to look all perfect for his romantic dinner for his girlfriend."
"It's not a romantic dinner it's just dinner…" Simon said,
"Well… speaking of dinner… what should we have tonight then?"
They eventually ended up calling for a Chinese and after stuffing their faces Simon was tired and took himself to bed leaving Carla and Peter alone in his living room.
"So… when are you going to get your self a Christmas tree?" Peter asked Carla as he joined her on the sofa.
"Friday I think… although it'll be a little fake one… nothing like that monstrosity over there." Carla laughed pointing over at their tree.
"Hey… I thought you said you like it."
"I do… I really do." Carla chuckled putting her feet up onto Peter's lap.
"So… are we gonna talk about Rich then?" Peter asked cautiously.
"Wow… you don't waste anytime d'ya?" Carla sighed as Peter took hold of her feet gently.
"Nope…" Peter said shaking his head and giving her foot a rub.
"Do we really have to talk about him tonight? I mean we've had such a nice evening." Carla said,
"Carla I just want to know more about this guy that's all… I mean I saw the look on your face the whole time you were with him... I know something is up with him."
"Okay…" Carla sighed, "So… Rich is Michelle's cousin."
"Yeah… I got that much." Peter grinned but Carla kicked him gently and shook her head,
"Are ya going listen to me or not?"
"Sorry… go on." Peter said.
"He used to work in the shoe shop with me, it were before I got with Paul and at first we got along… everything was fine and then he asked me out, he asked me out and I said no. He took it well at first but then he kept asking me and asking me… he wouldn't take no for an answer." Carla said and when she saw Peter's eyes widen she knew exactly what he was thinking.
"Carla…" Peter's reaction made her feel nervous, he looked angry, really angry and she knew she had to stop him from getting too worked up.
"Baby I want you to calm down… I can see your little mind working away and trust me when I say that he didn't touch me… he didn't get a chance to." Peter looked relived but confused,
"What d'ya mean?" he asked,
"One of the other guys we used to work with in the shoe shop, me n him were good mates and he just kept an eye on me that's all." Carla said truthfully.
"Are you sure?" Peter asked, something about Carla's story seemed unfinished and he wondered if maybe she was leaving something out.
"Yes… I'm sure." Carla nodded "He's just not a nice man, he's got quite a big history with drugs n stuff and I just don't want him around reminding me of my childhood." She said, hoping that Peter would leave it there. He did and she was thankful and she hoped that Rich wouldn't be sticking around for too long and that she wouldn't have to see him too much.
Unfortunately for Carla as she was on her way to work the next day, she ran into Rich as he came out of Roy's Rolls.
"Morning Carlaroo." He said smiling at her in a way that she detested. "Nice cafe that is,"
"Look Rich..." She said sighing, "It's just me n you now, Chelle's not ere, let's not do this eh."
"Oh come on... we're friends." Rich said walking alongside Carla.
"No we are not... we used to be friends but you went n ruined that didn't ya?"
"Oh we are still friends... in fact we're practically family if you think about it." Rich said and he still had that stupid smirk on his face as he continued to walk Carla down the street.
"Actually we're not." Carla said stopping, "I'm not a Connor anymore, I'm a Barlow."
"Oh yes that's right... a Barlow." Rich said in a cruel, mocking sort of tone. "Cheating aside your husband seems like a right nice bloke, me n him should hang out whilst I'm ere."
"Yeah except there is no way on this earth that Peter would want to hang out with you..."
"Why? What ave you told him about me?" Rich said, looking rather worried now.
"Oh not much... just that you dabbled in a hell of a lot of drugs and that you kept asking me out... over and over again." Carla said and then went to continue walking but Rich took her by the arm, she glared up at him and said, "You better take your hands off me now."
"Y'know I really don't get why you are so hostile... I mean the past is in the past right?" Rich said but he still had hold of Carla's arm.
"Yeah well it won't be for much longer, if you don't take your hands off me right now, I will give you such a hard smack you'll still feel it next christmas and then I'll go and tell Peter the real reason why I hate you so much and trust me... when he finds out what you did... he'll be the hostile one."
Rich let go of Carla because he could tell that she was being deadly serious.
"Now stay the hell away from me." She said and walked away from him so that she could continue going to work.