It was in humble Evans, GA where our now love-locked couple grew up – just minutes from one another in fact, attending the same elementary and middle school, and even (very briefly) sharing a passion for the soccer field. Despite such geographic proximity it wasn’t until the year 2010 at Greenbrier High School (yes, the one with the renowned men’s soccer program) that the first spark of companionship between Rani and Thomas first lit. It started platonically in Ms. Bull’s Trigonometry class.
Rani, often still donning her scrubs from her hours spent off-site in the HOSA program, became intrigued by the concerningly sleepy blonde kid that sat two desks behind her. Though his head rarely parted from his desk, his test scores always far exceeded her own, and, after a particularly poor quiz effort, she drummed up the courage to ask for his assistance as a tutor.
Their first tutoring session was at Panera Bread, and the conversation quickly veered from arithmetic to, well, anything Bhatt (pun intended). From then on, Thomas had far less trouble keeping his head up in class and, being a gentleman as well as a scholar, often escorted little Rani through the treacherous Greenbrier halls to her next class.
Still, their relations remained very much at arm’s length, until, young Rani accepted a slumber party invitation from Thomas’s sister Elizabeth. This slumber party was, of course, to take place at the Hamilton’s house and to be attended by several other female members of the Greenbrier elite – several, no doubt, also hoping to steal a couple of minutes alone with Elizabeth’s older brother. It was Rani, however, who somehow landed a couple of hours with Thomas that moonless April night as the girls were watching a scary movie which frightened poor Rani. Thomas coerced many a smile from our Rani, not solely through his own wit, but also by regaling her with YouTube videos (a classic teenage courting ritual at the time) starring his cousin Allen.
Clearly inspired by the creativity and innovativeness of the Hamilton/Butler gene pool, Rani slyly asked about Thomas’s plans for the upcoming Prom. Impressed by her boldness, and seduced by her smile, Thomas unhesitatingly replied, “Well, I was hoping to take you…”. Never have a pair of cheeks turned so rosy so quickly, and, though Rani (by that time unable to ignore the palpable and jealous judgement from the rest of the girls in the slumber party) had to return to the gaggle in the basement below, her smile didn’t dip an inch for the rest of the night.
Spoiler alert: Thomas and Rani hit it off at prom, and by a couple weeks later, despite Rani’s impending move to Atlanta to start class at Georgia State University, the two were officially “dating”.
From then on, their relationship conquered distance, somehow continuing to strengthen even when that distance grew after Thomas’s move to Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. Though rarely hand-in-hand in the literal sense, Thomas and Rani persevered together through every obstacle college life could throw at a relationship: The demanding schedule of collegiate athletics, Organic Chemistry (1&2), a transfer to UGA, and countless others.
Though Rani’s post-graduate pursuits briefly saw her return to Augusta for a position at MCG (or was it Georgia Regents at the time?), our star-crossed couple, finally landed in the same city – Atlanta, where they both now currently reside.
These high school sweethearts could not be more excited for the next chapter in their already lengthy story and are honored to share the first page of that chapter with many of you all reading this story now.