Nick Jonas

Steel Vengeance

"We've got to head to the back before the park gets super busy," I say.

"Is that where all the best rides are?" asks Joe.

"Yeah. That's where you'd have to wait in line longest once people start getting here," I explain, and once again Joe grabs my hand and we take off running.

"Hey! Can you guys walk, please? I'm getting sick of being left in the dust," jokes Kevin.

"Sorry," Joe grins cheekily, making like he's going to run off again, but he doesn't.

As we walk to the back of the park, I point out all the rides we're passing.

"That's Top Thrill Dragster. Highest and fastest ride at the park. That thing goes 120 miles per hour and the top height of it is 420 feet."

"That's insane," says Kevin.

"Insanely fun."

We pass Gemini, Magnum XL-200, and Maverick as we cross the train tracks and enter the Steel Vengeance part of the park. Before entering the line, Nick cranes his head back to look at the first hill.

"No way. Not gonna happen," he says.

"Come on, Nick," says Joe, exasperated. He's excited as always.

"I'll come in line, but there's no way I'm riding that. It's too high," Nick complains, but he enters the line with us like he said he would.

"How tall is this one, Harper?" asks Kevin, once we've come to a stand still in line.

"Uh, I'm not sure if I should say," I joke, with a pointed look at Nick.

"I'm not even going on. Just tell him," he says.

"205 feet."

"You guys are crazy," says Nick.

"And that's why I didn't want to say it," I say, punching his arm lightly.

"I didn't know roller coasters like this existed," Joe says, still in awe of the park and it's stats.

"This one's a record breaker," I tell him, and his jaw drops.

"This place just keeps getting better and better."

"I would tend to disagree," Nick jokes.

"Of course you would, drama queen," says Kevin.

We make small talk as we work our way through the twenty minute line, and finally, once we pass through security, we stand on the stairs leading up to the boarding station.

"Almost there!" Joe says, sounding exhilarated.

"Get ready for the best ride of your life," I say.

We get in line with Kevin and Joe agreeing to ride together, sitting in the second to last row. Nick waits with me, saying that he'll just go through and wait for us at the exit. However, when our ride train arrives and the other passengers are getting off, I turn to him.

"Nick, will you please ride with me? Please?" I plead.

"Harper, it's so high, I don't know-"

"But Nickyyyy," I say, and he caves as I knew he would.

"Alright, fine. You owe me for this one, though." He sits on the left side of the cart, behind Joe, and I sit on the right, behind Kevin.

Our restraints are checked, and the whole time the crew is making sure the train is ready for release Nick is biting his lower lip. When we get the all clear, he starts bouncing his leg and we begin to roll out of the station.

"I swear to God, Harper," he says, shaking his head as we traverse the small hills and begin the big climb.

"It'll be fine, I promise," I say, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Yeah. I'm sure it will be," he says, not sounding entirely convinced.

We're almost cresting the top of the hill when Joe swivels around in his seat to look at me, his smile so huge I think his face will split in half. Both of us raise our hands into the air at the same time, and, cautiously, Kevin follows suit. Nick just shakes his head, gulping; he closes his eyes and grabs the lap bar tighter.

"Nicky, hands up!" I say, taking his right hand off the bar and raising it into the air as we fly down the hill at 74 miles per hour.

Joe's laughing again and having the time of his life as we reach the bottom of the hill and take off over a bump and up another, smaller hill. His and Kevin's arms fly through the air, occasionally smacking into one another. However, neither of them seem to care. Nick has wrestled his arm out of my grasp and back onto the lap bar, knuckles white and eyes squeezed shut.

"Holy shit," he mutters under his breath as we barrel roll through the tracks.

"HAHAHAHAHAH!" I hear from Joe as we twist underneath the hill and through the roller coaster supports.

We hit the first break run and Kevin turns, flashing me a thumbs up as we head down another hill and into the craziest part of the ride. Twisting and weaving through the tracks, we are provided with the illusion that we are going to hit the supports. That's how close together everything looks during this section. Nick opens his eyes for a second as we roll out from underneath the track.

"DAMN IT!" he yells, slamming his eyes shut again and making Joe, Kevin and I giggle.

Then we're back under the tracks again, twisting, weaving, and going the opposite direction of what we think we're going to go. Kevin even starts screaming again. It's the most fun I've had in a long time; this ride never disappoints and being on it with my cousins just makes it that much better.

Back in the daylight, we go over a few small bumps like the ones at the beginning of the ride, and then under the tracks again up to the final break run and turn into the ride station. Nick keeps his eyes closed until the train fully stops in the station, and I brush his hand lightly.

"You okay?" I ask.

"Oh yeah, great. Just living the dream," he says, pushing the lap bar up and undoing the seat belt so he can get out.

"Come on, it was fun," I tease.

"Loads," he says, and we wait for Joe and Kevin before walking down to see our ride photos.

"Nice face, Nick," Joe smirks when he sees his brother looking terrified on camera.

"Shut up. I'm never doing that again," Nick grumbles, and we head out of the store, across the train tracks and back onto the midway.