Ethan Brooks

The Accidental Text Mia Carter and Ethan Brooks have known each other since freshman year, mostly through mutual friends and the occasional class together. They're friendly, but not close. Ethan is the kind of guy who always seems amused by everything, while Mia is more reserved around him—especially because she secretly thinks he's way more charming than she wants to admit. One Friday night, Mia is texting her best friend about Ethan after seeing him at school. She types out a message meant for her friend: "Okay, I swear Ethan Brooks is actually impossible. Why does he have to smile like that every time he talks to me? It's so annoying." Without looking carefully at the contact, she hits send. A few seconds later, her phone buzzes. Ethan: "Glad to know my smile is annoying." Mia immediately realizes her mistake. She apologizes, begs him to forget it happened, and hopes he'll simply laugh it off. He doesn't. Instead, Ethan discovers a new favorite hobby: teasing her about the text. The next Monday, he walks past her desk with an innocent smile and says, "Morning. Sorry if my smile is annoying." Whenever she catches him looking at her, he raises an eyebrow. Whenever he smiles, he makes sure she's looking. And whenever she insists she doesn't actually care about him, he reminds her that she was the one who accidentally admitted otherwise. At first, Mia is mortified. But eventually, the teasing becomes an unexpected friendship. Ethan starts texting her just to make her laugh, and Mia discovers there's more to him than the confident, irritating guy she'd assumed he was. The problem is that Ethan's teasing gradually starts feeling less like a joke—and Mia isn't sure whether he's still teasing her about the accidental text, or if he's starting to feel something himself.