Chapter 19 Kavita Ridley
Kavita Ridley
Streams of loud noises were nothing out of the ordinary for the Ridleys.
Kavita started every morning after a long night out on the town just the same.
The maids came to her room at the same time, like clockwork—no earlier than nine and no later than ten.
Kavita could roll into her room right when the sun rose and be up first thing in the morning.
She claimed it was a gift because God knew how reckless she could be.
On this morning, Kavita would sink into a tub filled with oils and flowers.
Her hair was matted due to the amount of pins she’d put in it to make it appear short.
Kavita was tempted to cut it off into a short bob like her friend Lila or her sisters, but she always hesitated when she brought the scissors to her locks.
She felt like her hair was the only thing that connected her to where she came from in India.
Her raven-black locks fell all the way down her back.
She parted her lips and sang a note so high that it stirred Henrik. He could hear everything in Kavita’s bathroom because his room was beside hers. Kavita sang a song that he hadn’t heard in a long time. She and Henrik would sing songs together when they were younger.
Kavita threw on her custom orange kimono-inspired robe. She walked hard, almost like a toddler, to Henrik’s room. She opened the door to see the back of his ashy-blond hair. His ear was pressed to the wall before he whipped around.
“Haven’t you ever heard of this little thing called . . . um, knocking?” he asked.
Kavita rolled her eyes, grabbing his arm. “Haven’t you ever heard that it’s bad to eavesdrop?”
Henrik shook his head while batting his long eyelashes with a simple, closed smile. “Okay, you’ve made your point. What do you want?”
Kavita gave him her devious, wide smile. Henrik knew she was about to ask him to do her bidding anytime she gave him a crazed smile like that.
“Oh no, whatever it is, I am not covering for you, pretending to be you in your bed with a wig—”
Kavita put her finger over his mouth to stop him from rambling.
“No, I want us to be a team.”
Henrik furrowed his eyebrows in utter confusion. He was sure she had gone mad now.
“Look, I know all those pins in your head may have made you lose a few brain cells, but what ‘team’ could I possibly be on with you?”
Kavita rubbed Henrik’s full head of hair like he was a golden retriever. “Oh, my little brother, you have so much to learn. I know you want to play music outside of your room.”
Henrik’s cheeks flushed pink in embarrassment. No one mentioned his love of music due to their overbearing Father and the Ridley Line. So he’d hidden it from his family.
He stuttered, trying to outwit his sister.
“First off, Kavi, we are the same age. You are three months older than me because God had to show his thanks to the world by having you born in November. Secondly, I play music as a hobby. You should think about getting one.” He grabbed her arm and walked her out.
“You and me, some of my girlfriends I want you to meet, and Franklin at the Golden Goose tonight in Harlem. Maybe you can show off some of your moves!”
“We leave at eight, Kavita! No later than eight,” Henrik exclaimed as he slammed the door.
Kavita put on her sheer black stockings with the velvet black lines that traced up her legs and crystals sewn in.
If she was to accompany her brother and maybe even join the open mic tonight, she refused to blend in with the crowd.
She wanted to be a showstopper, just like how she had seen Josephine Baker all over the gossip columns the night before.
Kavita slipped on a three-tiered red-and-black fringe dress.
Kavita knew the dress code was red, but she was a rebel; she had to add a little bit of herself into it.
She never was fond of looking like everyone else.
She layered on pearls and diamond necklaces to add sparkle.
She started to pin her hair in her usual updo before suddenly remembering what long hair meant to her.
People like her were one in a million. They followed what she did.
She could have followed the trends of how they wore their hair, but she was the trendsetter.
Kavita slowly took the pins out and let her hair fall down her back.
She looked back at herself in the mirror, taking in the length of it.
It mesmerized her that she had kept it up for the past few years.
Kavita found ruby crystal clips and pinned them in her flowing hair.
A triple knock came at her door. Every sibling had a distinct way of knocking, which Kavita had memorized, but more than one sibling used three knocks. She couldn’t quite hear who it might be.
Henrik tapped twice, paused, then tapped once more as if he were unsure whether she had heard him knock the other two times.
“Come on in.”
Henrik closed the door gently behind him.
“You see how that works? A little polite knock goes a long way!”
Kavita brushed him off as she pinned more crystals to her hair instead of a bed of flowers. Her hair looked like a constellation of stars.
“Henrik, what are you doing here? I thought you said eight o’clock sharp.”
Henrik rubbed the temple of his forehead in laughter.
“Kavita, that was twenty-five minutes ago.”
Kavita whipped back toward Henrik, storming over to retrieve her watch from the closet. She laughed as she stepped out, holding it out to him.
“Well, see, it was an emergency.”
Henrik sat on the edge of her bed. “Oh, sister, pray tell. Hastily, of course.”
Kavita slipped on her strappy black velvet heels that matched the lining of her stockings perfectly.
“I shall be on the way first. I need you to make an excuse to Father and Mother for why I shall not be in my room.”
Henrik walked to the door leading to her private stairwell.
“I don’t know why they gave the most mischievous child a stairwell.
I should have gotten it. Anyways, never mind that I told them I heard you vomiting all morning again.
You are covered. You might want to lock your door tonight.
Mother seemed frantic. I told her not to worry; I said you were reading a book in bed and I’d check in on you. ”
Kavita grabbed her beaded clutch and followed him out. He turned and peeked out the window to see that she did nothing to prevent them from coming in.
“You have no fear, do you, Kavi?” Henrik laughed as he walked down the steps.
“Everyone knows you’re the favorite child, along with Diego. You two have never got in any trouble. So Mother and Father are always going to take you at your word.”
He nodded gleefully as Mr. Pierre opened the doors for them.
“Yeah, you may be right for the first time, sister.”
Kavita ignored his comment as she fussed with her dress.
She’d always been obsessed with the intricacies of beading.
She wondered who had taken the time to make a dress so beautiful.
Henrik swore up and down that he and Kavita were nothing alike because of her recklessness, but here he was, sitting in the car with her, going to a speakeasy.
She chuckled to herself at seeing him nervous.
“Is this your first time going to a theater or a club?”
Henrik straightened up, trying to look cool.
“Of course not.” He put his index finger on his thumb, a tell that he was lying. Kavita knew the little tricks and antics he would do whenever he lied or was nervous.
“You know these clubs mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. It’s just a bunch of sweaty bodies too close together.”
Henrik looked at her with pleading eyes. “Can we just have a fun night without, ya know . . . you drinking? I know I shouldn’t ask, but I get scared and don’t want to be the reason something bad happens to ya, especially with us together for the first time on a night out on the town.”
Kavita felt a twist in her stomach at the question. She didn’t like being called out for how she drank, especially not by her younger brother. It wasn’t her fault he’d grown up to be such a prude, locking himself into the music room and teaching himself every instrument.
“You shall have nothing to worry about tonight, brother. I’ll be as sober as Amelia when she writes her books in the early morning.” She chuckled softly.
“You know I love you, Kavi. I want you to be happy.”
Kavita started to hide her smile but let him see it anyway. She grabbed his hand.
“And you know I love you too. Now, let me introduce you to my friends.”
Henrik looked petrified; his facial expression said everything as if he were screaming it out loud. Mr. Pierre opened the door, and Kavita and Henrik slid out of the back seat. A group of girls pointed at Kavita the moment she got out.
“That’s Kavita Ridley!”
Kavita waved and smiled while holding on to her brother’s arm. Henrik had a way of dressing more casually than everyone in the family, with his suspenders and brown woolen pants. Kavita was sure that those girls would be the first to report to Metropolitan Musings that she was out with a poor man.
“Henrik, why must you wear those dowdy clothes?” she groaned. She hadn’t even realized in her room what he had on because she was so focused on making sure her hair was flowing just right.
“Well, Kavi, some of us don’t crave attention and truly just want people to love us for what we are, not what we have.”
Henrik looked back at the girls and flashed a smile.
He had a handsome face but looked like an infant beside his brothers.
He had a tall stature, but his skin was buttery soft, without one blemish, which made girls question if he was no older than fifteen.
Kavita knew Henrik would look better if he let her or Amelia dress him, but he was stuck in his British ways.