Sami and Luke’s story began in 2013, but its roots trace back to well before that in 2010. They both grew up in the same town, Westport, CT, and attended Staples High School. Little did Sami know, but Luke had a distant crush on her his senior year the moment he saw her walk down the hallways. They even went on their first date, unknowingly, in 2010 at a Black Eyed Peas concert (see photo in gallery). They spoke a total of zero words to each other that night. Luke’s crush on Sami came to no avail as he was heading to the cornfields of Iowa for college in the fall of 2011. Fast forward two years later to the summer of 2013. Luke and Sami were randomly at the same party in Westport and Luke finally had an opportunity to ask her out. The rest, as they say, is history. Their relationship began with arguably the worst timing on earth. They started going on dates and spending time together one month before Sami went to college at UVA, while Luke was still at Grinnell in Iowa. After their first date at the movies, Luke knew she was the one. Her beauty, her intelligence, and yes, her sassiness, made Luke fall for her almost instantly. He didn't care about their current situation or what other people may have said about long-distance relationships in college. All he knew was that he had fallen for Samantha Michelle Bautista. Grinnell and UVA aren't exactly close to each other - being 980 miles apart - but they did their best to visit each other as much as possible. They knew one day their long-distance relationship would be worth the short-term pain of being so far away from each other. After Sami’s graduation, she got a job in NYC while Luke was working in Boston - certainly an improvement, but still a distance apart. Finally, in 2019, Sami was able to move to Boston to be with Luke. They had made it! Since Sami’s move, the couple has bought their own home together, Sami has enrolled at MIT Sloan School of Management, and they have (really just Sami) been contemplating getting their own dog. After all this time, they can confidently say, the distance was in fact worth it.