If you sell stock at a loss, you don't have to buy replacement stock within the wash sale period to have a wash sale. You can have a wash sale merely by entering into a contract or option to buy replacement stock.
It doesn't matter whether the call option is in the money. This is an automatic rule. If you buy a call option during the wash sale period, you have a wash sale. This's true even if you never exercise the option to acquire the stock.The disallowed loss is added to your basis for the call option.