"Oh good, he's here guys." a man with thick, curly hair stated matter-of-factly, motioning to the pinot noir bottle in my hand.
Three gentlemen stood at my door in the sinking rays of the July sunlight. It was eight in the evening. The rest of Type O Negative was here.
"Excuse me, miss...?" the one gentleman with shoulder-length black hair and a tribal-looking tattoo on his left arm said.
The man with the thick curly hair nudged him roughly and harshly whispered, "That's Rosemary you idiot."
"Ah, Rosemary. Sorry." He whispered back and made a sidewards glance at the man with thick, curly hair, "Rosemary, may we please come in? By the way, I'm Kenny." He stepped forward slightly.
"I'm Josh." The man with the thick curly hair shrugged lightly and sighed.
"I'm Sal." A man with dark sunglasses and shoulder length, dark hair said.
I was going to shit myself right then and there (but I didn't of course).
I smiled brightly and said, "of course you may come in. Peter's at the kitchen table." I then motioned for them to come inside.
One by one, the troop of men came marching in through my door, each one politely taking their shoes off by the door, which I was thoroughly surprised by.
"Who's here?" I heard Peter ask from the kitchen.
"The boys." I said back as I walked down the hallway, wine bottle in my hand still, making my way to the fridge to put it back while the rest of the guys were in tow behind me.
"The boys...?" Peter questioningly asked and then he saw Josh, Kenny, and Sal in the kitchen. "What are you knuckleheads doing here?"
"We went to your house and your mom said you were with Rosemary. We wanted to see what you were doing tonight." Kenny said with a slight smirk.
"Well, as you can see, Rosie and I just finished up dinner." Peter replied nonchalantly.
"Do yous want to take a seat? Did yous eat yet? Want anything to drink?" I asked out of politeness.
"Who in the hell says 'yous'? You're not from here are you?" Sal lightly made a jab at me, smiling a bit.
They took a seat at my kitchen table.
"I'm from PA; heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country." I replied.
"Ah, makes sense now. Well, welcome to Brooklyn. Why did you decide to move here?" Sal asked.
I looked at Peter, Peter looked at me. There was a slight awkward silence.
"Work." Was all I could muster out.
"Nice." Sal said.
I luckily had beer in the fridge for special occasions, so I got out 3 of them and slid them across the table to each of the men.
"What are we listening to?" Kenny asked curiously.
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
The song that was currently playing was "Heartless" by A Day To Remember. I forgot to turn my Bluetooth speaker off.
"A Day To Remember. They're a hardcore band." I tried to play it cool.
"Huh." He cracked open his beer and took a swig, "Are they new? I've never heard of them."
I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.
"Yeah they're new." I replied to Kenny, scratching the back of my head.
I turned around to the fridge again and pulled out blocks of cheese. Then I went to the pantry and pulled out some crackers. I started to cut up some cheese when I noticed Josh looking around the kitchen from his seat, trying to find the source of the music. He couldn't seem to pinpoint where the music was coming from. The rest of the guys were talking about their days and what they were doing this weekend. I saw Josh fiddle with his beer can, take a sip out of it, get up from his seat, come into the kitchen, and find the source of the music. The guys all got quiet as soon as Josh made his way over to my bluetooth speaker.
"What the fuck is this thing?" He muttered under his breath, picking up my little speaker.
"It's a speaker." I replied to him coolly.
"But it's not connected to anything." He retorted, eying me carefully.
"Yeah, and?" I asked calmly.
My phone was sitting right next to the speaker and he pointed to it, then picking it up to examine it.
"And what's this?" Josh asked flatly.
"Um..." I looked at Peter totally panicked.
Josh looked back at Peter. Peter put his hands up, feigning mock defense.
Kenny chimed in, "Wait, what's going on here?"
"Rosie, tell them." Peter said frankly, motioning to me to speak.
"Tell them what?" I said nervously.
"Who you are and why you're here." Peter stated, taking a sip from his wine glass. So this is how it's going to be tonight, huh?
I gulped and played with my hair. All eyes were on me. Sal took a big gulp of his beer and said, "I can't wait to hear this..." And chuckled.
"So, my name is Rosemary Ivanov and I'm a government agent with the Department of Defense. My mission is to help Peter."
"What? No fucking way." Kenny said sarcastically.
I stepped away from the cheese and crackers. "I am from the year 2021. I am a time traveler and I can prove it to you. This may sound absolutely crazy and absurd but it's true. You can't tell anyone. This has to be kept on the down-low."
Kenny scoffed a little. "This is fucking nuts" He muttered under his breath, "Alright, Ms. Ivanov, how can you verify that what you say is true?"
"I can tell you your whole track listing off of Bloody Kisses. I have the bass tabs to 'Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)' memorized by heart. I can tell you that Bloody Kisses will go gold and platinum. Fame will hit yous hard and fast. I can even tell yous your whole discography if you'd like." I motioned to Peter, "Peter, over here, will develop a coke problem in his mid-thirties and it will spiral out of control. His alcohol dependency will also take a toll on his body. He will eventually go to Riker's Island and the psych ward at King's County Hospital. He will die on April 14, 2010 from sepsis related to diverticulitis, sober as a duck."
"Do what you will with this information. You may choose not to believe it or not, but I know what I know and I will do as I was instructed to do by the DoD: to save Peter's life." I stood there with my arms crossed over my chest in a defensive manner.
Everyone was quiet and stared at me wide-eyed, including Peter. I didn't think he expected me to divulge that much information, but what's been said can't be taken back now.
"So, are you psychic or something? Or are you really from the future?" Sal prodded.
Kenny cleared his throat.
"How old were you when Peter died then? You don't look a day over 18." Sal asked me.
"I was 13 when Peter died. I'm 24 now. I'm a clinical mental health counselor."
A hushed murmur coursed through the kitchen. Did I say something wrong?
"What proof do you have that you're really from the future?" Josh asked flatly.
I brought over my bluetooth speaker and phone to the table.
"Joshua take a seat." I calmly stated.
"Joshua?" Josh asked as he walked back to his seat and sat down.
"You heard me, now shush." I raised my phone up for them to look, "This is an iPhone, more specifically an iPhone 11. It has a camera, can send text messages, make phone calls, play music, play videos, send e-mails, and much more. Here, look at it." I handed it to Sal first, Sal passing it around to Josh, then to Peter, then to Kenny.
"Sounds fancy." Sal said with a smile, mesmerized with the piece of technology.
"This," I set my phone down as soon as I got it back in hand and exchanged it for my speaker, "is a speaker. It's connected wirelessly to my phone and can play music. See?"
I opened my music app and hit shuffle and blushed crimson when "Swervin'" by Three 6 Mafia played on my phone.
"Is this your music? What are we listening to?" Kenny asked and laughed.
"Three 6 Mafia. I listen to a plethora of music." and with that I paused my music to talk some more. "I listen to anything from rap, to country, to metal."
Peter had his arms crossed and he smirked, giving me a thumbs up.
"Smoothe baby." Peter said.
"Thanks for your continued support, love." I retorted back and stuck my tongue out at him.
I reached in between where Kenny and Sal were sitting and grabbed my wine off the table, taking a massive gulp out of the glass. I set it on the kitchen counter.
"Let me show you this. You'll love this." I got back into my music app and started Bloody Kisses from the very beginning, starting with "Machine Screw". Everybody listened intently as it led into "Christian Woman". I jacked the volume as high as it could go, because listening to this album was, in fact, a very sonic experience. I went back to working in the kitchen, cutting up slices of assorted cheeses for the boys of Type O Negative. Who could say they were doing that, cutting up snacks for Kenny, Josh, Sal, and Peter? Probably only Peter's mom.
One song led into the other. "Christian Woman", "Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)", "Fray Wray Come out and Play", "Kill All the White People", "Summer Breeze", "Set Me on Fire", "Dark Side of the Womb", and "We Hate Everyone". I paused the album to hand out my platter of cheese and crackers and the boys dug in ravenously.
"Thank you Rosemary." Kenny said, then everyone joined in.
"Please, call me Rosie." I cleared my throat. "Before I unpause the music, I would just like to note that this is actually my most favorite song off this album coming up, 'Bloody Kisses (A Death in the Family)'. Peter," I winked at him, "I know who this is about."
I saw his face turn a slight crimson color. The man was never one to show his true emotional state unless he wanted to and this was the one time I played him the fool.
"So, Peter, who is this song about, hmm?" Kenny nudged Peter's foot under the table.
There was a pause.
"...My cat, Venus." Peter lightly said and sighed in defeat.
"I knew it." Josh deadpanned.
I hit play as they munched away on the platter of snacks. The etheric organ that Josh played came in first and then the other instruments. I'm telling you, it truly is a sonic experience to listen to Type O Negative. Then, Peter's low, earthy, vocals came in, singing about his cat. The boys made side comments to each other about the mixing of the song as the song played on. I topped off Peter's wine once again and gave the boys another round of beer. I hummed along to the song as I made sure everyone was comfortable. I checked the time on the clock on the wall in the kitchen. It read 9:07pm.
The boys, almost in unison, all cracked open their second beer. I finished off my glass of wine, feeling a buzzing in my cranial cavity and loving the sensation. What a time to be alive!
The rest of the album played on, the boys now chattering amongst themselves about miscellaneous things. Peter was talking about his benefits that he received at work and the other boys chimed in about what their work offered them. I don't think they noticed but the album ended and my music app decided to randomly shuffle music. This was a dangerous game to play, especially when I was drinking. I loved to dance to music when I was tipsy and/or drunk. I didn't want to whip out my dance moves unintentionally in front of 3 men I had just met. "when the party's over" by the Billie Eilish started to play and everyone got quiet.
"Who is this?" Kenny asked curiously.
"Billie Eilish." I replied to him, taking a sip of my wine.
"Billie who? Eyelash?"
"Eilish, you dumbass." Peter rolled his eyes and smirked.
"Fuckin' sorry." Kenny made a face at Peter and I laughed a little. I couldn't help myself. "She has a very lovely voice. Is this one of those songs from your time?"
"Yup! It was released in 2019."
"Woah." Sal said in awe.
"Can you play some music from your time? I'm intrigued. It doesn't sound like complete shit." Kenny asked me, taking a swig out of his beer and taking a piece of cheese off the platter in the middle of the table.
I winced. "Are you sure about that? Most of it is garbage."
"How bad can it be?" Kenny asked, then looked around at the rest of the boys for approval.
The general consensus was that they wanted to listen to my music. Holy hell. This could be good or bad.
"Well, let's move to the living room. I have better speakers in there that I purchased. But I had to buy a modern amp head that would allow me to line-in my phone because, well, you know." I chuckled lightly, "yous don't have cell phones...yet." I went over to the kitchen table to shut off my bluetooth speaker, wine in hand.
I motioned for everyone to follow me to the living room where I had a pretty nifty sound set-up. I had these massive Cerwin-Vega speakers that were meant for clubs. Peter helped me thrift them from a local club that was getting rid of them because they were "broken". Jokes on them because Peter helped me fix them up and they work just fine. How's that for having a handy boyfriend?
I went back into my work bag in the kitchen and pulled out my dab pen and e-cig. If we were going to play my college hits, it was only customary to pull these puppies out for the occasion. I went back into the living room where everyone was.
"Anyone want to take a dab?"
"A dab?" Josh asked, wondering what the fuck that meant.
"A dab is a concentrated form of cannabis."
"Yo, what?" Josh got up from the couch and came up to me, grabbing the pen out of my hand. "What do I need to do?"
Everyone let out a snicker as Josh studied the apparatus.
"Hit the button as you draw on it and enjoy, my man."
"What's that in your other hand, love?" Peter asked.
"Oh this?" I had my JUUL in the other hand, "This is an electronic cigarette."
"A-what?" Kenny stood up next. "I heard 'cigarette'."
"An e-cig. See?" I took a draw off of my JUUL and exhaled a cloud of vapor. "Do you want to hit it?"
"Suuuuuure." Kenny took it out of my hand and studied it, "And what's this called?"
"A JUUL." I almost laughed to myself. I forgot that Kenny smoked.
"Do I need to press any buttons like that thing?" He referred to my dab pen that Josh was currently hitting.
"No, just draw on it and exhale."
Kenny sucked on the JUUL like there was no tomorrow and sputtered out all of the vapor in a cough.
We all laughed lightly at this, Kenny doubled down over his knees coughing and hitting his chest.
"You'll get used to it." I said with a smirk.
"I need another beer." Kenny croaked out. He made his way to the fridge and got himself another drink, then he came back to the living room.
"Rosie, I didn't know you smoked." Peter said, something flickering behind those green orbs of his. He swirled his wine in his glass.
"I don't. I just save it for special occasions." I shrugged it off, but I knew Peter saw smoking as something very phallic.
It seemed Type O was here to stay the night. So much for going out with Peter tonight (which I didn't mind; this just added more to my case notes).
I plugged in my iPhone into the amp and started the music app.
"What did you listen to while you were in college? You are college educated aren't you?" Sal asked.
"I actually graduated from a master's program before joining this program." I said while plugging in my iPhone.
"So you're smart." Sal said.
"Hey," I paused, "Not necessarily." I wagged my finger almost accusingly. "Books smarts does not equate street smarts. I wasn't raised with street smarts like yous were."
I shuffled my music app. Josh was on some other planet it seemed. He was seated on my couch relaxed and gazing down at my pen.
"I'm so sorry for what comes up in my songs..." I muttered under my breath. No one seemed to have heard me. They were in for a trip.
Synthesizers came through the speakers and then a drum beat. The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" played on. I started to dance freely to the beat and used my JUUL as a microphone, wine glass in the other hand. I don't think anyone else noticed but I had seen Josh's foot tapping to the beat.
I've been tryna call
I've been on my own for long enough
Maybe you can show me how to love, maybe
I'm going through withdrawals
You don't even have to do too much
You can turn me on with just a touch, baby
I look around and
Sin City's cold and empty (Oh)
No one's around to judge me (Oh)
I can't see clearly when you're gone
I said, ooh, I'm blinded by the lights
No, I can't sleep until I feel your touch
I said, ooh, I'm drowning in the night
Oh, when I'm like this, you're the one I trust
"Is this Michael Jackson?" Sal asked.
"No," I paused mid-dance, "This is The Weeknd, but he sounds a lot like MJ."
"Ah." He replied back to me.
"Michael Jackson died in 2009, when I was 12. The world seemed to stop when he died."
"What?! What happened to him?" Sal asked me incredulously.
"He OD'd on a slew of drugs in his home." I stated matter-of-factly.
"Woah..."
The night went on like this: me playing songs, the boys then asking questions about each song. The drinks were flowing like water between the boys. Over the course of a few hours, we got to talking more and I learned a lot about the boys. Little did they know, when they would leave I would be typing up notes for Peter's file. These guys were very important to Peter, no matter how much they may bicker over petty things. I don't think Sal knew that very soon he would be out of the band. I would have a new member to add case notes on and that would be Johnny Kelly.
At around 1am, the boys decided to leave. I walked them to the door and waved goodbye to them as they walked down the street. Peter and I were alone again. I let out a small sigh as I closed the front door and locked it for the night. Peter got up from his seat and stretched his long arms up over his head. He walked into the kitchen and placed his wine glass in the sink, then walked over to me, placing a sweet kiss upon my lips, his hand entangled in my hair..
"Sorry we didn't go out tonight." He apologized sincerely as he looked me in the eyes.
I reached up and gently took hold of his arm.
"No need to apologize. I had a really good time here at home with you and the guys, trust me."
He then kissed my forehead.
"Good." He paused, pursing his lips. "I think I'm gonna head out, Rosie. Thanks for a good night, as per usual."
"You're very welcome, love."
"I'll see you later, babe." Peter said, winking at me.
And with that, Peter's long legs strolled over to the door, unlocked the lock, and was out the door in a matter of seconds.
My little phrase from earlier re-occurred in my head: what a time to be alive. That was a fact, for sure. I wouldn't trade this experience for the world.