Silence in a conversation isn’t empty. It’s full of everything nobody wants to say first.

A pause between two people is usually crowded. Both of you are holding something, calculating the cost of going first, and the quiet is the sound of that calculation rather than of nothing happening. Most stuck conversations are not missing the words, they are waiting for someone to accept the risk.

If you can tell a silence is heavy, name that instead of filling it with small talk. Say there is something you have been meaning to bring up, and then bring it up. Going first is uncomfortable for about ten seconds and usually saves several weeks.