Chapter 25: Vacation in Vegas: Day One, Part 2.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Fosters.
AN: Please leave a review. Also, somebody personal messaged me and asked me why a majority of the chapters, a whole 16 out of 25 so far, are from Connor's point of view. The reason behind this is I feel that I identify with Connor more than I do Jude. We're both gay, and out to our fathers, who are less than happy about it. We both dated our best friend in middle school, although Connor and Jude's relationship will last, whereas mine didn't, so I find it more... fulfilling writing from his point of view.
Connor's POV:
It took us an hour to get to Primm from the Vegas strip because of traffic, but when we finally arrived, Jude immediately started nerding out.
"Holy crap, Connor, look!" Jude pointed out as we pulled onto the exit into Primm, "The hotel actually has the roller coaster around it."
"I know!" I said, "This is too cool. There are a lot more places to go here than their are in the game. There's places to shop and more casinos, plus the names of the casinos are different."
"Yeah, it's the Buffalo Bill Resort and Casino, not the Bison Steve." Jude said, "IT's bigger too, and so's the rollercoaster."
"You two are way too excited right now." Jesus snarked.
"It's a Fallout fan thing." I said dismissively, "You wouldn't understand."
"Yeah, you're right, I don't."
"I kind of do." Brandon said, "But not as much as you two do. I mean, I like the games, but you two are going a bit nuts."
"Blasphemy!" Jude and I chorused, mock horrified. We shared a look, and burst out laughing.
"You two... are certifiably insane." Jesus deadpanned.
We shared another look, and cackled even harder.
"Are you scared right now, Jesus?" Brandon asked, eyeing us warily.
"I think I might be, yes." Jesus answered as we pulled into the parking lot of the casino.
We got out of the car, and Jud immediately started snapping pictures of the roller coaster and the hotel. He took about fifty of them before dragging the three of us back to the car. He started it back up, and drove, pulling into a Taco Bell.
"What do you guys want?" He asked, "I'm buying."
"Get me one of those smothered burritos with a large Mountain Dew." Jesus said.
Jude turned around in the driver seat and raised one of his perfectly formed eyebrows at Jesus.
"Please?" Jesus added hastily, fearing the onset of the previously mentioned 'Bitch Face'.
"Much better." Jude said in mock praise, "I'll have you trained yet, big brother. And I am NOT getting you a Mountain Dew. With your ADHD, you're hyper enough without being on a sugar rush from drinking that."
Brandon and I laughed while Jesus rolled his eyes.
"Who are you now? Moms?" Jesus mumbled.
That did it.
One thing Jude hated, was anything that might insinuate he was like a woman. It was some left over trauma from the foster system, where some of the foster parents had been less than kind to Jude because he once showed some feminine traits. One such example was the time he told me about his final foster father beat the daylights out of him because he caught Jude wearing one of his ex-wife's old dresses, an event that eventually led to Callie going to Juvie and eventually ended with Callie and Jude being placed with the Fosters. Plus the bullying Jude originally endured for wearing his favorite blue nail polish to school.
As a result, any time somebody compares Jude to a woman, or insinuates that he is feminine, he gets extremely mad.
Jude slammed on the brakes in middle of the drive through. He turned in his seat.
He tilted his head downwards, so that his eyes were shadowed, and he frowned, his eyebrows forming an almost perfect V-shaped. He flared his nostrils, and he growled.
Jesus cowered as he found himself on the receiving end of the Jude Foster Epic Bitch Face of Death.
"Would you like to repeat that Jesus?" He purred dangerously as Brandon and I completely lost our minds in our fits of mirthful laughter.
"No. No I would not. Nope." He stammered quickly.
Jude flipped back to his normal happy self in a split second.
"Okay good." He said happily, "Now, like I said. No Mountain Dew. Is Sierra Mist good enough?"
"Yes. That'll work just fine." Jesus said, eyeing his brother cautiously.
"What do you want, B?" Jude asked.
"Two Doritos Locos Tacos with the works." He answered, "And one of those Baja Blast frozen things."
"Okay," Jude said, "I might get one of those freezes myself. What about you Connor?"
"Um." I said, "I'll be good."
"What? You don't want anything."
"I don't like Taco Bell." I said honestly.
That was actually an understatement.
I hated Taco Bell.
"Why not?" Jesus asked.
"The food is way too unhealthy for my taste." I explain, "I mean, okay sure, every now and then I will enjoy a trip to McDonalds for a McGriddle, or go to Burger King for one their Ice Cream Sundays or Hershey Pies, but that's about it. Taco Bell is where I draw the line. I've read that the meat in the soft tacos isn't even real beef. If I order a taco, I expect it to have real beef in it, not processed slop that, apparently, is less nutritious than dog food."
Jude and Jesus looked a little sick. Brandon looked less than pleased.
"You know?" Jesus said, "I think I saw a sign for a Subway when we were driving around."
"Sounds like a plan," Jude agreed pulling out of the line and driving back onto the road, "I may never be able to eat Taco Bell again. I mean, dog food? Really?"
"How did you know that anyway, Connor?" Brandon asked.
"I'm an athlete," I said, "I've always taken what I eat and my health seriously. You don't get muscles like these from eating crap every day."
"This is very true." Jesus agreed.
"Yeah, I found that out the hard way." Jude said, "Connor practically put me on a diet when I told him I wanted to try and build up some muscle like his."
"Well it helped, in any case." Brandon asked, "You've gotten pretty buff, Jude. You've got as much muscle as Jesus now."
"Still not as buff as Connor." Jude said.
"What spurred that on anyway?" Jesus asked, "The whole working out thing?"
"It was after Evan started teaching Connor and I self defense after we got jumped at the beach that one time." Jude said, "I was skinny. I was a wimp. I wanted to get stronger, be able to defend myself better. Plus, I was a little insecure at the time."
"Wait, what?" I asked, shocked, "You never told me that. Why did you feel insecure?"
"I did." He said, "I told you when I was over at your house that one time when..."
He leant in and whispered in my ear.
"When I walked in on you after you got out of the shower."
"Ohhhh." I said, "Yeah, I remember now. That was a good night."
"Oh, hush you." He said, slapping my arm in jest as we pulled up into the parking lot in front of the Subway.
Fifteen minutes later was sat in the car, waiting for Jude to get back.
"Where did he go?" Brandon asked.
"And why did he tell us not to start eating yet?" Jesus asked.
No sooner had he asked this had Jude emerged from the shopping center carrying two bags. He approached us, and opened all the doors of the car and withdrew the contents of the bag.
"Towels?" Jesus asked.
"For the seats." Jude answered, draping the towels over the seats, "If I find even a single crumb on my seats, I will disembowel the offender. I am dead serious. You have been warned."
After Jude had placed the towels, we all got in the car and set about eating. Jude and Brandon ate their roast beef on Italian subs with gusto, while I took my time chowing on my turkey on wheat sub with light mayonnaise. Jesus ate his meatball marinara sub at an inhuman speed. The whole time, Jude kept glancing at his phone expectantly.
Then it rang. Jude picked it up quickly.
"Hello... yes this is Mr. Adams Foster...They're done? Good... Yes I will be paying on arrival." He said into the phone, "I'm in Primm at the moment, we will be there in about an hour... thank you very much."
He hung up and started the car.
"Back to Vegas." He said, quickly pulling out of the parking lot and heading back onto I-15.
"Why? What's going on?" I asked.
"I did say I had a surprise for you guys." He said, "It's ready."
I turned in my seat and shared a look with Brandon and Jesus.
An hour later we were stuck in a traffic jam, because we hit rush hour, and some moron had jackknifed on the freeway and crashed into his own trailer. We were only half way to our destination.
I have never seen Jude seethe so much as we finally reached the accident.
"This is bull shit." He seethed, "I have places to be. And we are stuck in traffic, because some FUCKING MORON CAN'T TOW A TRAILER PROPERLY!"
He looked ready to stick his head out the window and scream.
No sooner had I thought it, than he did that exact thing.
He rolled the window down and stuck his head out the window as we went past the accident.
"FUCKING MORON!"
I reached over and pulled him back into the car.
He continued to seethe as he drove.
"Was that REALLY necessary?" I asked exasperatedly.
"Yes. Yes it was." He pouted childishly, "We're late to pick them up now."
"Pick what up?" I asked.
"It's supposed to be a surprise." He said.
"Jude." I said, "Just tell us."
"I bought you guys something, okay?" He said, "I wanted to do something nice. Kind of a big thank you to you guys for being there for me over the years."
"What kind of something?"
"Let's just say it's a big present." He said."I'm about to spend eighty of the hundred grand I have in the case in the trunk."
My eyes went wide.
"Huh?"
Jude let out a sigh of resignation.
"I... *sigh* I bought you guys new cars okay?" He said, "We're going to pick them up."
"What?" We all chorused.
"They aren't brand new." Jude said sheepishly, "But they are nice. I thought you guys would like them."
"Jude, that's way too big of a gift." I said, flabbergasted.
"So was the Play Station Vita you gave me three days into our friendship." Jude said, "But you still gave it to me without a second thought."
"Well, yeah, but that was a video game system that I almost never played." I said, "This is a car, Jude. That's a lot bigger."
"I know it is," Jude admitted, "But... I wanted to. You guys have done so much for me in the past, and this is the best way I could think of to say thank you. Besides, I'm going gambling again tomorrow, so the money's not really that big of an issue. I mean, I did make a hundred grand in seven hours of gambling."
"What about the Cadillac?" I asked, "And Brandon's SUV?"
"Already got that covered." He said.
"How?"
"Taylor and Castor."
"They're here?" I asked, shocked.
"I didn't know either." Jude said, "Ran into them on my way to the showrooms. They're staying with Taylor's aunt who lives out here. They flew here, but they agreed to drive the cars back when they leave in three days. I made them promise not to race back to San Diego."
The ride lapsed into silence after that. My mind was in shock from what Jude had just revealed.
A car?
A freaking CAR?
Guh.
Even after all these years he can still throw me for a loop.
Twenty Minutes Later
We pulled into the dealership and came to a stop. We all got out of the car and headed inside.
"Mr. Foster!" The man in a suit said, "We were beginning to think you'd changed your mind."
"Some idiot jackknifed and crashed into their own trailer on I-15, about halfway between here and Primm." Jude explained, "Stuck in traffic for about an hour."
"Ah. Understandable."
"You said on the phone that they're ready?" Jude asked.
"Yes, they are in the back." He said, "Right this way gentleman."
We were directed into the garage of the dealership, where three cars sat covered in tarps. One tarp was blue, one was red, and one was black.
"Blue is Connor's." Jude said, "Black is Jesus's, and red is Brandon's. Brandon, you go first."
Brandon slowly walked forward and pulled the tarp back.
It was a red Ford Mustang. Brandon barely kept himself standing.
"2009 Ford Mustang GT." Jude said, "In cherry red, just like you always said you wanted it."
"Jude." Brandon said, walking forward and pulling his little brother into a hug, lifting him off his feet and placing a kiss on his head, "I don't know how I'm ever going to be able to thank you enough for this..."
"You're my brother." Jude said, "Keep doing what you've been doing. That's all the thanks I need."
Brandon went back to inspecting his car. Jesus marched forward and pulled back his tarp to reveal a black Dodge Charger. Jesus stared at the car wide eyed, then back to Jude.
"2014 Dodge Charger." Jude said, "It's the basic model. Hasn't really got many fancy features on it, but I figured you'd like it. It's got 370 hp. Only does 18 miles to the gallon, but that's still better than the old clunker you used to drive."
Jesus started to cry a little as he hugged Jude as hard as he possibly could.
"Thanks little bro." He said, before going back to fawn over the car.
It was my turn. I walked forward to stand next to the car. My new car.
I reached out slowly, and grasped the cloth of the cover. I already had a suspicion of what it was, because I had once told Jude what my favorite car was.
I peeled the tarp off of the car, and immediately ran at Jude and swept him off his feet with a sob of laughter while I pressed multitudes of kisses all over his face. I sat him back on his feet and together, we examined the car.
"This is the most expensive of the lot." Jude said, "A 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle, in blue with white stripes. Even had them put in a new radio so you could use CD's or hook up your iPod to it."
"I can't believe you got me this..." I mumbled, "Jude... this thing is beautiful."
"Take care of it." Jude said.
"Trust me, I will." I assured him as I opened the door and sat down in the driver seat.
"I'm gonna go get the money to pay for these out of Rapide." Jude said, "I'll be right back."
I nodded and continued to observe the car's interior. White leather interior, custom stereo with a CD player and I-Pod compatibility. I could feel unshed tears building in my eyes, burning as I fought to keep composure.
Jesus and Brandon wandered over to check my car out too.
"You okay, man?" Jesus asked, sounding choked up himself.
"I don't know what I did to deserve a boyfriend like Jude." I said, my voice thick with emotion, "These things cost like $40,000 grand for one in mint condition like this thing is, and Jude bought it for me without a seconds hesitation."
"Jude is selfless." Brandon said, "He loves you, he loves Us, and he'd do anything to make the people he loves happy."
"He never had enough money to buy anything for anybody when he was growing up." Jesus said, "Now that he does, I guess he just couldn't help himself."
"I know, but... WOW." I said, breathlessly, "I've dreamed of owning one of these things since I was a little kid. I remember showing Jude a picture of one JUST like this once, the first time he ever spent the night at my house, and telling him I'd own one someday. He remembered that."
I wiped away the tear that fell down my cheeks.
"I can't believe I got so damned lucky." I said.
"I can't believe we did either," Brandon said, Jesus nodding in agreement, "Jude's the best little brother we could have ever hoped to have."
Jude came back in being followed by the salesman. He handed us each a set of keys, and a walkie talkie.
"It's done." Jude said, "They're paid for. The titles are in your names. The tanks are full. They're yours. The walkie talkies are so we can still talk to each other while we drive."
Jesus, Brandon and I wrapped Jude in a group hug as the garage door opened. We separated and got in our new rides. Jude ran out of the garage and got in the Rapide. I inserted the key into the ignition and turned the car on. I revved the engine, and couldn't help the delighted whoop of laughter that escaped my mouth as I pulled out into the parking lot, followed by Jesus and Brandon.
We pulled back out onto the road and thundered off into the distance.
"Where to next, boys?" Jude asked over the walkie talkie.
"Hoover Dam by dark?" Jesus suggested.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Brandon answered, "What do you think Connor?"
I picked up the walkie talkie from the seat.
"Gentleman." I said, "Let's ride."
And so we did. I rolled the window down, and plugged my iPod into the radio. Immediately, one of my favorite songs started playing. and I bobbed my head to the music until the lyrics started playing.
Take me down to the Paradise City...
I couldn't help but think, that at that moment, thundering out of Vegas as the evening sun set, in a seventies muscle car, racing my boyfriend and his brothers, OUR brothers to Hoover Dam, that I knew the true meaning of the word Paradise.
AN#2: Okay, so same as usual. Please leave a review, and hope you enjoyed the chapter.