AS THE STORY GOES

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"What would you say if I said I've never been on a plane before?" Justin asked quietly to Joaquin beside him right after the slightly railing experience of his first takeoff. Jimmy and Jon were in the two seats across the aisle, chatting happily through it all. Not only was it Justin's first time on a plane, but they were flying first-class—much nicer than he ever expected his first plane ride to be.

"No time like the present to start something new," Joaquin responded. As promised, Joaquin was a much more subdued guy than on his first introduction. He tended to wait until he was beside someone to speak to them instead of saying it loud enough for everyone around to hear. Justin even watched that Sunday, at their family dinner, how Joaquin kept his sign language space small and tight compared to his wife's large, dramatic movements.

Justin looked across the aisle to Jon chatting endlessly to Jimmy, who looked like he had no problem listening to the teenager ramble. Jimmy caught Justin's glance and smiled knowingly.

"He always has a lot to say," Justin spoke up.

"And it's all worth hearing," Jimmy laughed, putting a thick arm around Jon's narrow shoulders.

"Jus, this trip is already so much cooler than when I flew to Maine for the field trip. The seats on this plane are crazy nice!" Jon's feet barely touched the floor in the comfortable chairs.

"We're too tall for the seats back there." Jimmy gestured to the seats behind them. "We need leg room. Good excuse for a better seat, if you ask me."

"So, what's the plan when we get to LA, Dad?" Jon asked, bouncing a little in his seat.

Jimmy sighed. "Kinda busy, to be honest. Joaquin and I have a lot of clients that booked with us months ago and some interviews and meet-and-greets. It's always really busy for us, but we'll be able to have lunch and, probably, dinner together. There's a lot to do in the city if you get bored with the convention. Or you can just hang with us and see what we do." Jimmy paused to dig his wallet from his pocket. He handed Jon a plastic card in a paper holder and then a second to Justin. "Jus, just in case you're about to protest, I invited you two out here and I want to make sure you have some funds to have a good time without dipping into money you probably didn't have planned for a weekend like this one. I would have done it with any of my kids—even at an adult age."

Justin said nothing as he slid the card out while Jon exclaimed, "$1000?!" after reading the back of his before his brother.

Justin's eyes got wide and he tried to hand the card back. "Yo."

Jimmy looked almost hurt.

"This really is regular life, bro," Joaquin said to Justin casually. "I feel like everybody's been walking around being modest for you."

"What do you mean?" Justin looked from Joaquin to Jimmy, still holding the Visa uneasily.

"At the sake of sounding really pretentious, Pop and I are known. People save a knot to sit in our chair and get our work."

"I mean, Ma said that, but—" Justin looked at Joaquin beside him.

"Jus, if we don't know you, it's a $1,000 non-refundable deposit just to book the first hour. It's $250 an hour for every hour after that. Dad is the sole tattoo artist for all of the biggest names in Takeover Records. We've been on over a dozen major worldwide tattoo magazine covers as the feature story. Dad's mentored two of the biggest names up there with us. On top of that, this guy fully restores classic cars as a hobby, welding his own parts when the original is not available—the most impressive shit ever, if you're not familiar. He sells them each at collectable prices, does mural commissions all over the world, and is head of facilities for our little family non-profit.