Certainty | n.h

Chapter 1

I started my shift thirty minutes ago, it's now half past ten. For now, it has been quite calm and we've only had one costumer. Here at the store it is usually calm until eleven, a quarter past eleven, because that's when the tourists start showing up. Since our next costumer won't probably show up until eleven, I decided to go through my instagram feed.

I don't have many followers, around three hundred -my account is private- but that's because I never accept anyone that I'm not really friends with. My friends always say that if I'm not going to accept those follow requests I might as well just delete their request, but the thing is that I'm a very indecisive person, I never know anything for certain, so I rather leave the requests pending and if I feel like it, accept some of them later.

As I'm going through my feed, I hear the bell of the store ringing, indicating that someone just entered the store. I look up to see a young girl, around my age, looking around the store as if it were the prettiest thing she had ever seen. She had a camera in her hand, and was carrying a big backpack on her shoulders, making me assume that she was a tourist. I love tourists and talking to them. They're always unbelievably interesting and it's fun to learn things about their countries and cultures.

"Hello, if you need any help around the store don't hesitate on calling me," I smiled at her.

"Hi, thank you. I'm just looking around. It's my first time in Notting Hill and this boutique immediately called my attention," she said, in good english but an intriguing accent. I couldn't make up which country she was from from her accent, unfortunately.

"That's a thing we hear loads of times here. Uhm, if this is not indelicate, may I ask where are you from?" she smiled, assuring me that it was fine.

"I'm from Latvia, you probably never heard of it before," I laughed at that, I was studying geography at university. It would be a shame if I didn't know Latvia.

"I'm studying geography actually. I know Latvia," she simply nodded.

Once I let the girl wander around the store, I thought she wouldn't mind me using my phone, so that's what I did. However, seconds later from picking my phone up, I hear the bell again, making me silently groan. I look up to see a blond guy, who is also around my age, probably two or three years older.

"Hello, if you need any help around the store don't hesitate on calling me," I repeated the sentence I spoke a couple minutes earlier, smiling at him. While saying this, I also noticed the way the Latvian girl was gawking at the guy, making me laugh to me. I then heard her speak up again.

"Err, he-hi, uh," she was so shy and nervous making me wonder what the hell she would be asking the guy. If she was trying to flirt with him she wasn't going very far with all that stuttering. I smiled pitifully at her.

"I'm a photography major in university, a-nd I'm having-doing a new project where I have to take photos of people who I find on the street or something and I was wondering if you, uhm, maybe, also be in it? Su'ds* Uh, I mean, I was wondering if you maybe could be in it?" Oh so she wasn't trying to flirt. That's quite relieving to be honest. I was starting to feel bad for her. And what the hell was that word she said in the middle off all that?

The guy smiled at her "yeah, sure." He didn't have an english accent but you could tell he was british. As he only said two words I didn't fully understand if it is a scottish or an irish accent. Maybe welsh? I don't know.

Because I have nothing better to do, I decide to just observe them. The shy girl suddenly transforms into a quirky girl. She's so excited, she's almost jumping up and down the store. She starts choosing some things to put on the guy. Without asking for permission, by the way. However, I'm too lazy to tell her off.