The Switch

Part 5

"Ah, there they are," Chris, one of the directors, exclaimed. "Finally decide to join us?"

"It's barely 11!" Dec replied, bringing his hands up in defense. "We're still a bit early."

They walked around the large table in the center of the room to their usual seats. They were considerably more nervous now since there were more people around. Ant kept walking until he was on the right side of Dec, as per usual. He was stopped abruptly by Dec's hands grabbing his arms and pulling him back until he was on the left. Dec roughly pushed him down so Ant was sitting in Dec's usual seat. He sat down in Ant's seat and smiled awkwardly at everyone around them. Luckily, no one seemed notice what had just happened.

"Oh, right," he mumbled. He forgotten he was supposed to be on the left side now since he was in Dec's body. "Force of habit." He smiled sheepishly at Dec.

"Shut up you muppet. Do you want them to get suspicious?" Dec thought. A part of him hoped Ant heard him and the time in the car wasn't just a one time thing.

"Sorry geez. Someone's in a bit of a mood," Ant smirked at Dec. He rather liked this whole telepathy thing.

"I'm bloody terrified right now, man! How are you so calm?" Dec scowled at Ant.

"Well, Declan. I'm worried too but I'm just better at hiding it."

"Since when? Usually you're the one shaking in you boots," Dec tutted mentally.

"Oh, I dunno. This morning maybe? You know, when we SWITCHED BODIES." Ant shoved Dec playfully in his chair. "That's probably why you're being such a grump right now."

"Aye. Usually you're the grump."

"Boy? Boys! Are you even listening?" They were snapped out of their internal argument by someone yelling at them. They looked at the source of the voice and saw their director looking at them disapprovingly.

"Sorry, what was that?" Ant and Dec asked together. They were a bit embarrassed by being called out like that. Usually they were always on top of their game and 100% professional.

"Stop getting lost in each other's eyes and listen this time," Chris joked causing Ant and Dec to blush a bit. "I said we are going to do a quick read through the script to make some changes and whatnot, break for about an hour for lunch, then do a full rehearsal on stage. Got it?"

"Yeah we got it," they replied, once again at the same time.

"Also, stop talking at the same time. It's freaky," another crew member chuckled.

"Sorry," they mumbled. Ant and Dec both looked down at their hands on the table in perfect sync. They really needed to cut that out. On a normal day they were pretty synchronized, but today it seemed more severe than usual.

They got their scripts and began scanning them. Both knew their own parts independently, but now they had to quickly learn each other's parts before the full rehearsal. And the live show. To say they were worried would be an understatement.

The lads read through the script and made a few changes with the help of their crew. They had only read the wrong line a few times, which no one seemed to notice. So far, it seemed like they would be okay for the rest of the day. A few minutes after they finished and everyone else had exited the room, Dec felt his phone vibrate.

"I just got a text from Lisa," Dec said after he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"I got one from Ali," Ant replied, also looking at his phone. Without words, Ant and Dec switched phone, returning them to their rightful owners.

"They want to meet for lunch," Dec stated the obvious. He knew Ant had read the text from Ali, so it was quite pointless for him to say that.

"That should be fine, right?" Ant said as he stood up.

"Yeah I don't see why not," Dec added. They left the room and made their way to their dressing room where their wives were waiting for them with food, most likely takeaway.

Ant and Dec walked the short distance from the boardroom to their dressing room. Ant was about to open the door when Dec grabbed him and pulled him into a nearby storage closet.

"What the hell, man?" Ant asked as he flicked on the light. He studied Dec's dimly lit face which was only inches away from his. "Why are we in here?"

"What are we going to tell Ali and Lisa," he asked innocently.

"What do you mean? Do you want to tell them about this?" Ant asked, waving his hands around between them.

"Well, yeah. We can't really hide it from them."

"Why not?" Ant was still unsure what Dec was going on about. Then it dawned on him. "Oh, shit. That's right. We can't ignore them, like."

"Aye. Usually, we go up and kiss them when we see them. It wouldn't be a good idea to kiss each other's wives," Dec explained.

"So what do you want to do?" Ant asked.

"I say we sit them down and tell them," he suggested.

"They'll think we're mad," Ant snorted.

"Honestly, I do too at this point, Anth," Dec laughed as he placed his hands on Ant's shoulders. They were both aware of the complete insanity that accompanied this situation. The had switched bodies for Christ's sake.

"Come on. They'll be wondering what's taking us so long," Ant grabbed Dec's hand and pulled him out of the closet. They received a few questioning looks as they came out of the closet together. Ant and Dec ignored these glances while Ant continued to drag Dec to their dressing room by his hand.

"Moment of truth," Ant mumbled under his breath. Dec replied with a loud sigh. He placed his hand on the door knob and slowly opened the door.

To be continued...