Auditioning for Love

What if your dating life was less “happily ever after” and more “open call from hell”? For years, J. A. Chester treated every man like a casting director and himself like the eager extra: flexible, talented, desperate to be picked. If there was a role—boyfriend, good time, emotional support, creative partner, free therapist—he’d audition for it. Sober now, pen in hand, he’s done pretending it was just “bad luck in love.”