They're just upvotes, your post automatically gets 1 and that one is yours, so you didn't remove anyones lol, just your own (which you can add again).
Also like everyone here has said, PC version is better!! Server hosting is cheap either way, maybe you two can move over to that? Imo it's just so much better and might get you hooked. I've been playing since 2011 personally so survival is boring for me now, but because I don't play PE I can just mod my game (java edition) and that's what's been keeping me interested all these years, there's just so many possibilities in general other than mods on the PC version. :)
As for the creeper thing, enabling cheats isn't bad, I mean neither of you are gonna use them anyways other than preventing them from blowing things up? I'm sure you two trust eachother lol.
Posting on the forums COULD offer new friends but usually on those posts I only see like 2 replies?? The way I've made friends is through servers and my bestfriends I've made because I met them through the skinning community here. Honestly just posting submissions can earn you friends.
Best of luck to you though!