What’s my total exposure with option contracts? Is it just the contract value?

I’m not going to go out and buy a ton of calls or puts, I just want a better understanding. If I were to buy a call for AMD at $97 that exercises on 5 august, and the cost of that contract is $2.7 how much exposure do I have overall? Can I choose just to not exercise the contract and just eat the $270 in costs for the option contract?