Please Make my Heart Stop

For about a year I volunteered at a local YMCA mentoring and playing with elementary school kids. One day at the beach a boy ran up to me shouting hysterically that his heart was meeting.
So I told him that was a good thing. But he insisted it wasn't and pleaded that it needed to be stopped. I started lightly laughing, as the exasperated boy was breathing hard, feeling his heart with his hand, and trying to catch his breath from running around.
I said that I didn't think he would want that… and he quickly piped in.
“If your heart beats, that means you're in love.”
Still breathing hard, he had to pause, “and I am not in love with no girl.” He protested.

On days when we are at the beach, some parents arrive early to pick up their kids. The boy's mother arrived right at this time, which was a good thing because I started to laugh way to hard. The boy ran to his mother shouting about is heart beating, and she half acknowledged him as he sputtered. The typical parental response to bubbly children.