John's caught between being genuinely abashed and being super amused. It lands somewhere in the middle, with him leaning back and huffing a soft laugh, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Hey man, nobody called anybody an amateur, all right? Chill," he says, with all the lackadaisical weight of a California beach bum. "Twenty-three, man. Most kids are still in school where I come from at that age. I guess that would make you one of the smart bunch."