A/N Here's another plot bunny that's been floating around in my head. Hope you guys enjoy it. Thanks to OCDJen for prereading and providing much needed advice and encouragement, and to my beta, JessDS, for fixing my mistakes!

Disclaimer: I own nothing Twilight. All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. I just like to play with them.

Chapter One

EPOV

I couldn't believe it. The incompetence of the college administration was just unbelievable. My parents had paid for an upgraded single room, but somehow the office screwed up, and gave me a two bedroom suite with a roommate. While having a big room was nice and all, it meant that I, Edward Cullen, was going to have to share a dorm room with a stranger. As you can tell, I was not happy about the idea. In my two previous years here I always had a private room, and I wanted to keep it that way.

To make matters worse, I found out through the grapevine that my roommate was a hick cowboy from Texas. Great. As if the situation wasn't bad enough, I had to deal with a redneck. Not that I was biased or anything, but being from New York, I was a cool kid, one of the popular crowd. People looked to me to see what was in or out. I was up on all the latest fashion and was big into music, art, and film. What would he be into - sheep herding and cow wrangling? Not interested. Also, I was gay, and I didn't feel like dealing with any anti-gay, narrow minded, bible belt bullshit.

The only good thing that came out of the mix-up was the room. It was a two bedroom suite with two bathrooms, a living room and kitchen. Since I was the one inconvenienced by the whole thing, I took the big bedroom. Let's see what Joe Cowboy had to say about that.

The morning passed by quickly. Managing to get all of my stuff unpacked, I put my iPod docking station in the living room and was listening to music when I heard a key in the door. The moment of truth was here.

"Hey there. You must be Edward." The voice that spoke those words had the most amazing southern drawl.

Turning around, I stopped in my tracks as I drank in the vision before me. "Yes, um, I'm Edward Cullen." I shook his hand. "You are?"

He gave me the biggest grin. "I'm Jasper, Jasper Whitlock. It's nice to meet you, Edward."

He was fucking gorgeous! He was tall and slender, about 6' to my 6'1". His hair was full of gorgeous blond curls and he had the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen. He was wearing jeans, a flannel shirt, cowboy boots, and god help me, a cowboy hat. He was fuckhot. All I could think of was, ride me Cowboy.

"The pleasure's all mine Jasper." I said, and it was. As I looked at the cowboy standing before me, I realized something. I was in deep trouble. How was I going to hide my attraction to him when we'd be living in such close quarters?

"So, Edward since it seems like you already made yourself comfortable here, can you show me which room is mine?" he asked, smiling again showing off his dimples.

"Um, sure, Jasper, follow me." I led him across the living room to his bedroom door. His room was set up pretty much the same as mine, just a little bit smaller. Opening up the door, I waved my arm to allow him enter before me. Yes! His ass was just as fine as I thought it would be and his jeans hugged his thighs perfectly. I could only imagine how strong his thighs must be from all that horseback riding. Before I could get too deep into my fantasy, Jasper spoke up.

"Wow! I certainly never expected anything this nice. First off, I thought I'd be alone, and second, I thought my room would be the size of a broom closet. Are you sure this isn't some mistake?" He asked.

"There was a mix-up, but it was with my room. I was supposed to get an upgraded single, but instead got this. Since there were no singles left for you, they put you here with me."

"Sorry man. When I checked, they told me they had no singles left and that I'd be rooming with you. I didn't realize they screwed up your room request. I hope this isn't an inconvenience for you?" He looked at me questioningly.

What could I say? That ten minutes ago I was ranting and raving about living with a redneck, but now all I could think about was kissing his luscious lips? "No, no inconvenience at all." He gave me a look. One thing I could already tell about Jasper Whitlock was that he wasn't stupid, that's for sure. "I mean, yeah, I was pissed when I found out I was going to have a roommate cause I'm kind of used to doing my own thing, but now that we've met, I think this is going to turn out to be a good thing. Don't you?" I looked at him pleadingly.

"I do too, Edward. I think we are going to get along just fine." He smiled again, and the sight of those dimples went straight to my cock. Not wanting to embarrass myself by getting a hard on in front of the guy, I excused myself go and get some of his bags.

After helping Jasper bring in all of his bags and boxes, I hopped in the shower. Emmett was coming to pick me up. We were going to meet the rest of the guys for drinks at the pool hall as a little "night before school starts" celebration. If I was honest about it, we kind of celebrated everything as an excuse to go out and drink. As I was getting dressed I could hear Emmett's booming voice coming from the living room. When I went out there, he and Jasper were talking about where they were from. "Say, Eddie, Jasper here is a real live cowboy from Texas."

I just rolled my eyes at him. Looking at Jasper, I apologized for Emmett, "You have to excuse my cousin. We're convinced my aunt dropped him on his head when he was a baby."

"Hey what did I say? I was nice wasn't I Jasper? I even invited him to come out with us tonight and meet the guys." He was so proud of himself that I had to laugh.

"You were very nice Emmett, thanks. I'm gonna go and get my laptop from the car before we go. I'll be right back." With that, he left the apartment.

Emmett finished his beer. "You know, Eddie, Jasper doesn't seem half bad. And here you were all mad about having to room with a stinking backwoods redneck," he guffawed.

"Oh, is that what you think I am, Edward?" That smooth southern drawl was full of disdain.

Fuck! Emmett and I turned around in flash. Neither of us had heard Jasper come back in.

"I realized that I forgot my car keys so I came back. Good thing I did, or I would have continued to think you guys actually liked me and wanted me to come hang out with you tonight, but now I know better. I was probably just going to be your source of entertainment tonight, huh? The butt of your jokes perhaps?" He grabbed his car keys and cell phone off the coffee table and headed for the door. Emmett and I just looked at each other, and Emmett motioned for me to go after him.`

"Jasper, wait, hey, wait up." Jasper stopped with his hand on the doorknob.

"Why, Edward? Any other insults you want to throw at me?" He let go of the knob and turned around to look at me.

"No, Jasper, listen, man I 'm sorry about that. It's not true, I don't feel that way about you."

"Oh no? So you didn't say those things to Emmett?" He stood there with his arms crossed defensively against his chest.

"I did, but that was before I met you."

"Still isn't a nice thing to say about someone you don't even know."

"I know, but I was mad. I was supposed to have my own room and then I find out I had to share, and if that wasnt' bad enough I had to share with a..." I stopped myself before I put my foot in my mouth again.

"A stinking backwoods redneck?" Jasper turned back around and opened the door. "Don't worry about it Edward. I'll stay out of your way if you stay out of mine." He walked out the door and continued walking down the hallway.

"No Jasper don't go. I didn't mean it." Jasper just shook his head and kept going. Fuck. What was I going to do now?

Turning around I went back in the apartment and closed the door. When I entered the living room, Emmett was just standing there looking at me.

"I'm sorry, Ed, man. I didn't know he was there. He's quiet like a mouse, that one. Hurting his feelings wasn't my intention. I never would have repeated that shit if I knew he was there."

"It's okay, Emmett. It's my own fault, really. I shouldn't have said anything like that to begin with considering I didn't even know the guy. Now, he hates me and I have to spend the whole year rooming with him."

"Maybe it won't be too bad. I'm sure once he gets to know you, he'll realize you're not like that." Emmett was forever the optimist.

"We'll see Emmett. Let's go otherwise we'll be late meeting the guys and I could really use a drink." Or ten. I thought.

The night passed in the usual fashion. We ate, drank, played pool, and drank some more. It wasn't until Yorkie faceplanted on the felt, that we realized it was time to go. Letting myself into the apartment, I tried to be as quiet as possible so I didn't wake up Jasper. The last thing I needed was him getting mad at me for something else. I needn't have worried though because he was already up.

Standing at the entrance to the living room I could see him on the couch watching TV. I felt so bad about what happened and I knew I needed to apologize again. Doing it now wasn't the best idea though, as I was a little drunk, but I went over to the couch anyway and sat down next to him.

"Jasper," I asked. "Why are you awake? Is everything okay?"

"Don't pretend to be concerned Edward. Just go to bed and leave me alone." He didn't even look at me.

"I'm not pretending Jasper. Despite the fact that I said some shitty things, I am a good person, and I am concerned. So, tell me."

He leaned his head back on the couch and closed his eyes. "Don't push me. I don't think I could handle it right now, okay. Just leave me be."

What the fuck was going on? "No, Jasper. I'm not leaving. Talk to me. You don't have to like me or trust me, but talk to me."

Turning his head he opened his eyes and looked at me. "I just don't want to have to deal with this bullshit again, that's all."

"What bullshit, Jasper? Tell me."

"Living with a roommate who can't stand the site of me." He closed his eyes again.

What was he talking about? "Jasper, I don't feel that way about you. I like you, I really do. And I can't tell you how sorry I am that you overheard Emmett's remarks. My intention was not to hurt you, I didn't even mean them. I was just a spoiled brat having a temper tantrum because I didn't get my own room, that's all it was. I swear."

He opened his eyes and just layed there looking at me. "Do you really mean that?"

"Yes, Jasper, I do. Can we please start over? I promise to keep my foot out of my mouth this time." I kept my fingers crossed while he thought it over.

A small smile broke out over his face. "Okay Edward. I'll give you another chance. But I feel I should warn you. Three strikes, and you're out. You already have one against you."

Smiling back I said, "Fair enough Jasper. Let's shake on it." Grabbing his hand in mine, I was shocked by the jolt of electricity I felt shooting up my arm. From the surprised look on Jasper's face, he must have felt it too. He dropped my hand like it was on fire, stood up and starting walking to his room.

"Jasper? Where are you going?"

Without looking back he said, "To bed. I don't know about you, but I have an early class tomorrow. See you in the morning, Edward." He walked into his room and closed the door.

Sitting on the couch in shock I tried to figure out what the fuck had just happened. Jasper and I made up after he accepted my apology and confessed to me that his old roommate hated him. I made a mental note to find out why. We shook hands only to be practically electrocuted while doing it. Then, he just jumped the fuck up and cut out. Why? I was too tired to deal with this shit now, but I'd definitely be getting some answers out of one Jasper Whitlock tomorrow.