After Hours

frathouse playhouse

"Can I help you?"

                     IT HAD ONLY taken Althea a precise 48 hours after she'd last seen Malcolm at the restaurant for her to arrive at the frat house. In the light of day on that Tuesday, the house looked almost serene and normal amidst the houses and condominiums on the street. It looked absolutely nothing like the bustling party house that Althea and her friends had visited a mere two weeks ago, with college students strewn across the lawn half passed out or throwing up.

Instead, Althea was able to notice and admire the small garden near the entryway to the home which is where the voice had called out to her from.

Althea blinked at the slightly middle aged man that was crouched down and tending to the rose bush. Streaming colours of the same flower all winked up at her, and she felt almost in awe with the sheer beauty of the bush. She was also incredibly sad that she'd never noticed this quaint piece of beauty amidst the college party house.

"Are you looking for someone?" the man tried again, blonde hair streaked with grey falling into his eyes.

Startled, she nodded at him and mentally cursed herself for having lost her manners.

"Hello," she said finally, smiling. "Is Malcolm around?"

The man shook his head, slight relief evident as he probably realized that Althea was not a total freak. "No, sorry. He went out to play some soccer with some of the other guys."

"You don't like soccer?" she asked, crouching down to smell some of the irresistible roses.

"Oh no, I've got bad knees. And I just come by to take care of the property and the garden." A memory seemed to have made the man a bit irritated as he pulled his lips into a small frown, barely paying attention to Althea as he grumbled. "You wouldn't believe how inconsiderate some people are. Someone dropped their cigarette and it damaged a whole bushel of carnations!"

Althea shook her head. "That's terrible," she agreed. The gardener caught her eyes and sullen expression for a moment before he smiled at her. Suddenly, the man leaned down and snipped at a single rose before handing one to her.

"Here you are," he said, arm outstretched with the single red rose.

"Oh, thank you, sir—"

"Arthur."

Althea smiled and delicately took the flower. "Thanks Arthur. And I promise to watch over the garden if I'm at any party here."

Arthur laughed and nodded at her while Althea stood back up. "No problem, dear!"

She hesitated before she turned back around towards Arthur.

"Oh Arthur? Do you know if Nick is home?"

Arthur's eyes brightened. "He might be. Feel free to check, door's open!"

"Thanks Arthur!" she called out, fast steps taking her towards the front door.

The frat house was probably the largest house that Althea had ever been in, second only to Dana's family home that she'd been invited to once during the early days of their friendship.

Althea had never returned there after Dana's mother had tried to reach to pet at Althea's hair. At the time, her dear friend had promptly and simultaneously removed her mother's hand and scolded her before she promised that she and Althea would exclusively hang out in Dana's apartment from that point on. And so they had—and fortunately for Charlie, he never had the displeasure of meeting Dana's family.

Althea wished she had that same luxury. They were a certainly odd (and truthfully quite prejudiced) bunch of high class idiots. It was no wonder then why Dana only met up with her family on holidays—who could withstand that amount of idiocy before you'd blow up at a person?