I'm not sure what you mean by cliches in romance - do you mean like kissing at sunset and stuff like that?
I can say that I've definitely written a lot of romance stories and none of them are completely alike. I've even gone so far as to have written two different stories with basically the same premise - a love triangle that unfolds while being on tour and even both of those stories are pretty different. I think what should make the romance story stand out and unique is the characters. The way that I approach romance stories (and any story, really, but I'll stick with romance since that's what you asked about) is the fact that it's obviously about two characters falling in or out of love. And in real life how/why does that happen? Because people learn about each other and all of their little personality quirks.
So take the two stories I wrote for example. They're both really close to the same - one of them is a BSB fic and one of them is a 1D fic. They both take place on tour and the characters are the same age in both of them 18-19. But I think they're pretty different based on the fact that all six main characters involved have their own personality traits. The end result is the same - some couple gets together and the odd man out is pissed off and there's drama within the boyband, but how the characters work it out amongst themselves is completely different. Their reasoning and motivations are completely different, even if there are scenes in both of them that look identical on the surface, they're really not.
In both scenes between Brian/Nick or Harry/Niall where they're arguing because one of them stole the other ones girlfriend, what the reader takes away from the scene is basically the same - things are out in the open, the boys are upset and they're fighting now, making it awkward. But again, in both of those scenes all four characters are different, so they come into the scene acting differently, and they leave it feeling differently. So the scenes afterwards and beforehand are probably going to go down separate paths.
I guess I would say the way I get around cliches is just by trying my best to create those well rounded characters and have all the characters in a story be different than the one that came before it. It can be challenging, especially when you're writing about the same group of guys all the time (or in my case, pretty much just focusing on Nick LOL) but that's where you have to try and make the female lead very different, and maybe try to put a different twist on Nick's personality.
I can't speak for other authors, but that's how I get around the fact that there are a lot of similarities in romance fiction. There's a lot of it out there, but if you create a well rounded character, chances are no one else will have created one who is 100% the same.
I don't know if that answered your question or not haha.
