Awkwardness can be the sound of two people learning a new arrangement.

Awkwardness is often a sign of change rather than of something wrong. When a friendship shifts, a relationship ends, a job changes or a family adjusts to somebody’s news, the old script no longer fits and no new one exists yet, so the conversation stumbles. That stumble is people trying rather than people failing. Smoothness comes later, out of repetition.

If things feel stiff with someone you care about, keep meeting them and give it several occasions rather than one. Say plainly that it feels a bit new. Naming the awkwardness usually shortens it more than pretending it is not there.