Erica has no clothes

The two ladies rushed to the carousel to look for Erica's bag, the nude lass's hands staying firmly clamped over her crotch as she jogged to lead the way for Alicia.

Seeing people from her flight at the carousel was a relief - at least she had gone to the right one. It was also embarrassing, as everyone turned to look at the auburn lady with only a backpack on her frontside, her shoes and socks, and her hands as clothes. People gawked and took photographs, but at least they were polite enough not to crowd around or start touching.

Eventually Alicia caught up panting. "Wow, Erica, you're really fast,"

"Yeah, well I need to get my bag before we go to the hotel," Erica countered.

So the two looked at the carousel and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Eventually, the crowd cleared up and only Erica and Alicia were standing by the empty carousel. They waited for tens more minutes before a flight attendant walked up to them.

"Excuse me, may I help you two with anything?"

"Yeah, my friend here is looking for her bag. We were on Flight 117."

"117? Oh, well everything's been clear there. Looks like your bag didn't make it, huh? Well, I'll have to contact them about it, and we'll call you later, probably in a couple of hours or so. In the meantime you can just wait in your hotel!"

"Damn it," Erica muttered under her breath. "Okay, Alicia, you got me, now can I have my clothes back?"

"Sure thing, 'Rica," Alicia unzipped her bag as Erica was befuddled by that nickname. However, the zipper caught on something, and Alicia pulled through even harder. After some effort, and a nasty tear that was heard all throughout the terminal, she got her bag open and look at some shreds of clothing.

Alicia's bag was already overstuffed from her Tetris-like efforts not to get charged for checking. When she put Erica's clothes in there as well and zipped everything in a rush, the clothes apparently got stuck in a zipper and were the casualties of Alicia's tugging. She eyed the damage, which rendered all three of Erica's clothes useless.

"Oh no..." she said in half-sincere concerns before handing them to Erica, who likewise surveyed everything and found no use for the garments, tossing them in a nearby garbage can.

"Alicia..." the realization started dawning on her, "I don't have any clothes, not one single clothe. All the stores are airside, so I won't have any clothes until we get to the AirBnB," she felt the heat on her hands that had reassumed their place, "which means I'll have to go to Greenwich Village in nothing but my birthday suit," hushing the last two words, "and shoes. If we take the subway in...", the heat turned to moisture, "I'll be seen by more people than in all of our hometown." Her fingers wanted to take their natural course so bad, but she had a moment of clarity, "oh God, Alicia, we'll have to hail a cab, and that's not any better. I'll have to be in the city, in front of all the cool people ... naked and free."

Alicia sympathized with the poor girl's plight. She didn't mean for Erica to have to be naked all the way to Manhattan. So, she thought of a way to cheer Erica up.