STORY-WIDE DISCLAIMER:

The Twilight Series belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Use of her characters in this fanfiction story is for entertainment purposes only, without monetary gain. No copyright infringement is intended. All original creation belongs to maniacalmuse. Please do not alter, copy, repost, or distribute this story, in whole or in part, without permission. Thank you.

This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, locales, events, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner, or exist in the original Twilight universe, which is also a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hellooooo, my friends! Welcome to a fun, fluffy little summer adventure I've been cooking up for you for the last couple of months. This is a BxE romance with some humor, hotness, and a few hints of drama, with lots of short chapters that will post daily until complete. I have tons of it prewritten and a fabulous group of pre-readers/cheerleaders to keep me going, so I'm pretty confident things will keep moving along smoothly until we're done here . . . *fingers crossed*

Please send some love to the amazing team helping me out behind the scenes: May (maplestyle), Mel (Mcc101180), PearlyFox, and sheselectric1. I am so grateful for their time, thoughts, and endless encouragement! You're all the best! Extra thanks to PearlyFox for the beautiful story banner!

Come join me on Facebook for more fun and shenanigans! I'm Mani Muse for friend requests and/or you can join my group: maniacalmuse | Twilight Fanfiction (Links are on my profile.)

Alrighty! Let's get this party started then, shall we? Please read responsibly, and I hope you all enjoy yourselves! XO

PROMPT THIS STORY IS BASED ON:

Samantha on Twitter: "7 years ago I worked at a small company of about 15 people. I sent an email to all my coworkers one Friday, inviting them on a weekend hike. Only one person came, a guy from the web dev team that I'd hardly spoken to. Today is our 6th wedding anniversary. We're going hiking." [Shared by Monica in LaMomo's Lair]

– HAPPENSTANCE –

Chapter One

"I think I need to get out of here, Jess. Like . . . bad."

My coworker, Jessica, our engineering firm's Head of Accounting, looks up at me as she spears a cherry tomato with a fork. "You mean the lunchroom?" Her eyes dart around the small space—clean, modern, and well-equipped for an office of just fifteen employees—before settling on me again. "Well, it is a nice day. We could eat outside if you want."

"No," I reply, shaking my head with a light laugh. "I mean here. The big 'here.' The whole city kind of 'here.'"

"Oh," Jessica says, popping the bite into her mouth and chewing as she eyes me speculatively. "Why, what's wrong?"

I push last night's leftover pasta around my plate, bored even with that. "Nothing's wrong, really. I'm just craving a change of scenery. Some new sights, smells, experiences."

"Is that some weird way of saying you need to get laid?"

Snorting at her assumption, which is all-too-unfortunately true, I shake my head again. "No. Well, yes, but that's not actually what I had in mind. I was thinking more of a weekend getaway, maybe into the mountains. It's not that far a drive, and the weather is perfect for it right now."

"You know what, that does sound good!" Jessica exclaims. "We could all go."

Wait, what? "Uh, we who?"

She laughs at my confused expression. "All of us here. You, me, Ange, Cyn, Lo . . . make it a fun girls' weekend."

I stare at her for a few seconds, turning the idea over in my mind. "Gee, I dunno, Jess. Would that be kinda rude? For half the office to go on a trip and not invite everyone else?"

"Hmm, yeah maybe. So invite everyone, then."

"Seriously?" I scoff. "Invite the whole company to the mountains for the weekend? What would we even all do together?"

Jessica shrugs. "What would you do if you went alone? Same difference, really. We can do all the same things; it'll just be a bigger group."

"I guess." Her suggestion doesn't sound terrible. We're a pretty tight-knit collective—or at least, most of us get along well enough—it could be fun to spend some time together outside the office and get to know each other a little better.

"I'll think it over," I finally say, "and if it looks like things will work out, I'll send a mass email."

Jessica grins widely. "That's the spirit! It'll be an adventure. Who knows what might happen . . ."

Thanks for reading!

Please review!

XO