Hmm ...
It depends on what someone finds "cheesy". That being said, a little bit of cheese is what I think makes romance so special and heartwarming, even if we do slightly eyeroll at it. I mean, like most genres, romance is a way to escape the mundane toll of life, and what better way to escape it by reading something that probably won't happen in real life? Ya know? ;P
Er, anyway.
I think what a lot of people eyeroll at (besides ewww kissing) is the "fakeness" that a lot of books and movies make romance and love to be. I.e., nothing else matters in the world besides this person, the world revolves around us, etc, when in all reality, romance and love just isn't like that, or that phase just doesn't last in a long term commitment. It's important to give your character faults (not everyone is beautiful, nor can everyone spit out a love poem on the spot like in movies) that make the story more realistic but also more relatable to your readers. You still have to go to work if you have a huge crush on someone. You still gotta go to school despite just hooking up with someone (kay, that's not romance, but you get the point lol). Emotional connection like any other genre really.
It also depends on what "stage of love" your character is on. A person who has a crush or who's relationship just started is going to have a vastly different opinion on romance then someone who has been dating something for more than a few years. Love in relationships that are just starting is seen as infallible and that the romance will never die while long term commitments seem to be more gritty and down to earth. So depending where your character stands, sometimes the cheesiness is needed because, well, that's how most people process romance. Cheesy, gooey kisses and whatnot.
I kept reminding myself – many, many more times that I ever care to admit – the sheer impossibility of anything tangible coming into fruition, but my love for him was immune to all my half-hearted denials and lingered safely within the recesses of my heart. I knew how utterly pathetic it was, but I guess, at first, I let it thrive because it provided some relief to my overwhelming loneliness. I desperately clung to the last, flimsiest flicker of hope that would let me escape from this oppressing darkness because it was all I thought I had.
Your excerpt comes off as desperate which entail can cause eye-rolling, but I think that's what you're going for, right? I mean, the fact that your character is logically thinking about it but still pines anyway is what is, if I may quote your character, sort of pathetic which I can see a few people rolling their eyes at in the "God get over it" kind of way. =P
The wording itself is a bit poetic (though it's possible it's just my personal writing taste that thinks that) and makes it a bit more flowery than I think it needs to be. Like I said, not everyone thinks in a romantic, flowery language all the time, if at all, even though the content may be. Think about how you processed your own relationships (not even in writing, but in your head) and crushes and channel that same feeling and thought process through your character.
Either way, I rambled, and I don't think I answered the question. I tried. ;P
If I were to recommend a good romance movie that's pretty recent and tackles the subject well is
(500) Days of Summer not only because I have a deep lust for Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but because it does take certain romantic cliches ("true love") and twists it around. It also shows how the couple develops from ooey gooey couple to ... well, you'll see (if you haven't seen it). In a way, it also tests the viewers ideals of romance, though not in a bad way. It's not really an example per se, but it puts a spin/develops differently on the cliches and cheesiness that a lot of romance movies have.
